Gulfstream's G500 has been delivered to its first European customer. Recently collected from Savannah, the jet will be operated by Danish organisation Blackbird Air Charter.

The G500 earned certification from EASA on October 11 and is in service in North America, Brazil, the Middle East and Europe.

Blackbird CCO Søren Jorstad Bugge says: “Our strategy is to change aircraft every five years. By this time, the warranty runs out on most items and we believe in having the newest equipment in order to deliver the most climate friendly, comfortable, safe and connected transportation for our clients. We are very happy to conclude that the G500 is exactly that: it’s the leader, more or less, in this segment. It has the newest cockpit avionics and the inflight cabin system is one-of-a-kind. It allows customers to control cabin systems for comfort and entertainment with their phones.”

He also says that the large panoramic windows make the G500 feel unlike any other business aircraft; the comfort in the cabin with the windows and low cabin altitude, along with near silence, offers a ‘totally different experience’ of flying. This impressive experience was a big factor in the choice.

Range is another plus: “What we saw from the figures was that you could more or less do the same distance as a Falcon 7X can at max cruise speed,” he explains. “We fly Mach 0.90 as a top speed, and can do that for six or seven hours, or we can throttle back to Mach 0.85 and fly for about nine and a half to 10 hours. Mach 0.85 is the high speed cruise of a Falcon aircraft, with 0.8 the long range cruise speed. So the range, technology and the fact that this is a brand new aircraft were all hugely appealing for us.”
When it comes to speed, Gulfstream has the transatlantic speed record. “The way the aerodynamics are built, this aircraft is not supposed to go any slower than 0.85 – it is extraordinary,” Bugge adds.

Blackbird Air Charter started life in 2015, and in 2017 established its own AOC. “With highly trained captains and crew, the G500 is our newest asset and is already available for charter. We look forward to having it serving our customers,” concludes Bugge.