Bombardier Challenger 650 flight deck
SPEED SELLS
When the G650 entered service in 2012, Gulfstream had racked up nearly 500 orders. Two years later, Gulfstream introduced the G650ER, featuring increased fuel capacity delivering 7,500 nm of range. Speed sells. Bombardier countered the G650/G650ER in 2016 by introducing an even larger flagship, the 7,400-nm- range Global 7000, the largest purpose-built business aircraft ever launched. This giant offered a four- section cabin in place of the G650’s three-section cabin. Not to be outdone, Gulfstream countered by announcing the 7,500-nm-range G700, a stretched version of the G650 with four seating sections, plus a lower drag wing, more fuel-efficient engines, active sidestick controls, and an updated interior. Bombardier’s Global 7000 proved to have 300 nm greater range than expected, so Montreal renamed it the Global 7500, and then launched the Global 8000, a close derivative with more fuel capacity, thereby increasing its range to 8,000 nm. Gulfstream parried Bombardier’s Global 8000 thrust by creating the 8,000-nm-range G800, a replacement for G650 that incorporates all the G700’s technical improvements to boost range by 500 nm. However, it retains the G650’s three-section cabin. Dassault remained conspicuously absent from this end of the market for more than a decade.
Then, in mid-2021, it officially launched the Mach 0.85-cruise, 7,500-nm-range Falcon 10X, claiming the distinction of having the biggest cabin in the class, which is considerably larger in volume than either the Gulfstream G700 or Bombardier Global 7500/8000. It’s the first Falcon to be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, the first to sport a T-tail, and the first Falcon flagship in more than four decades to have two engines—not three. The top-most jets in this class can cruise 8,000 nm, enabling them to fly from Singapore to San Diego, Boston to Bangkok, or Prestwick to Perth. Push up the speed to Mach 0.90, and some will still fly 7,000 nm, making city pairs such as Toronto to Taipei, Buenos Aires to Brisbane, or Jacksonville to Johannesburg, to be flown in less than 14 hours. But how frequently will passengers use these aircraft for 14-hour—let alone 15.5- to 16.5-hour— trips? The average mission length for this class of aircraft is about three hours—1,300 to 1,400 nm. That isn’t stopping Bombardier, Dassault, and Gulfstream, however, from betting billions on these flagships. A sizable number of customers will likely be ultra-high-net-worth individuals, billionaires seeking the most exclusive, bespoke air yachts, more for country club bragging rights than pure air transportation needs.
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