Gulfstream Expects About 160 Deliveries in 2026 as G300 and G400 Flight Testing Advances
Why It MattersGulfstream's talk of building as many aircraft as it can sell points to a market where large-cabin supply, not demand, sets delivery pace, with factory capacity and support networks becoming the constraint.
What happened
Gulfstream Aerospace President Mark Burns opened NBAA-BACE 2026 in Las Vegas with the show's first press conference. It was his first appearance at the convention since 2019, when the G700 was introduced. He said the G700 is now firmly established in service, the G800 is the industry's longest-range business jet, and two more aircraft are in flight testing.
The G400 flight test program now involves four aircraft. The first fully outfitted G400 recently completed its initial flight of about three and a half hours, reaching 48,000 feet. Testing currently includes icing evaluations and flammable fluid drainage work. The G300, which first flew in December 2025, was developed with Israel Aerospace Industries and builds on the G280, adding oval windows, a redesigned cabin and updated styling. A second G300 test aircraft is expected to fly soon, and a third is under construction. Burns did not give certification or entry-into-service dates for either aircraft.
Burns reported that 135 G700s have been delivered since certification in 2024, and 34 G800s have entered service in less than a year. Asked about economic uncertainty, he said demand is not the concern and that the company could sell more aircraft than it can build. Gulfstream expects to build approximately 160 aircraft in 2026, and Burns suggested reaching 200 annually is a matter of when rather than if.
Savannah expansion and customer support
Gulfstream is expanding manufacturing in Savannah, Georgia, with a new furniture production centre, additional cabin completion capacity and a new sales and design facility.
On customer support, which Burns believes could double in size over the next decade, Gulfstream holds more than $3 billion in spare parts inventory. It has expanded operations in Atlanta, Georgia, and added support capabilities in Singapore. Predictive analytics and artificial intelligence are helping prevent hundreds of unscheduled maintenance events each year.
Gulfstream employs more than 23,000 people worldwide, with approximately 500 apprentices in training programs. Burns also cited recent high-altitude contrail research with NASA, the FAA and university partners using G700 and G800 aircraft.
Industry impact & what to watch
When a manufacturer says it can sell more aircraft than it can build, the binding limit in the large-cabin segment is production throughput rather than order flow. Expansion of furniture production, cabin completion and sales and design space in Savannah is aimed at that limit, since interior completion is a stage where delivery schedules can bunch up. A 160-aircraft year with 200 described as a matter of when marks the scale of the capacity question.
Support is the second lever. A spare parts inventory above $3 billion, new capability in Singapore and Atlanta, and analytics aimed at preventing unscheduled maintenance events all point at fleet availability, which matters to owners and operators of a growing in-service fleet. Burns's expectation that support could double in size over the next decade ties the product pipeline to aftermarket revenue.
The next milestones are the ones Burns did not date: certification and entry into service for the G400 and G300. The second G300 test aircraft is expected to fly soon and a third is under construction, so the pace of that test fleet is the thing to track.
