A look inside Qatar Airways’ US$75 million Gulfstream G700, the world’s most expensive private jet
Middle East carrier Qatar Airways will be first to offer the new Gulfstream G700 private jet – an ultra-luxury answer to Bombardier’s Global 7500, promising ‘the tallest, widest, longest cabin in business aviation’
Earlier this year, Bombardier displaced the Gulfstream G650 as the undisputed king of business jets by launching the Global 7500. Describing it as the industry flagship, the president of Bombardier’s aviation unit, David Coleal, boasted: “It’s a clean-sheet design, built to perform like no other.”
However, Gulfstream has responded by introducing the G700, a roomier version of its flagship G650. Despite its bigger size, the G700 has the same industry-leading maximum speed of Mach 0.925 (that’s 1,142km/h, in human-speak), as its sibling thanks to new Rolls-Royce Pearl 700 engines.
But it still falls short by 200 nautical miles in terms of maximum range, in comparison to the Global 7500’s market-leading range of 7,700 nautical miles.
But the Gulfstream G700 instead promises more space, in every dimension. “The tallest, widest, longest cabin in business aviation,” Gulfstream president Mark Burns said.
In terms of cabin space and configuration, the G700 can accommodate a master-bedroom suite with a spa shower, which is similar to the Global 7500 and can be divided into five living areas – one more than the Global 7500, which includes a dining area with a table for six and a three-metre (10-foot) galley.
The Gulfstream G700 is expected to debut in 2022 and Qatar Airways became the launch customer by ordering 10 aircraft for its charter service Qatar Executive.
“We’ve actually had several other orders that we’ve taken already,” Burns said in an interview. “My phone’s been blowing up overnight with people asking about what available positions we have.”