Competition between Gulfstream and Bombardier has pushed business aviation into territory that seemed almost impossible a decade ago. With the G700/G800 and Global 7500/8000, the battle is now being fought over incremental improvements in speed, range and, perhaps most importantly, passenger comfort.
Bombardier's Global 8000 is the latest move.
With a published 8,000-nautical-mile range and maximum speed of Mach 0.95, the numbers are impressive. But the range increase over the already exceptional Global 7500 is relatively modest. And as with any aircraft, achieving maximum published range in the real world depends on operating conditions, payload, reserves and even fuel density and how much fuel can actually be loaded.
For many owners, the bigger Global 8000 story may not be range at all. It may be the lower cabin altitude and increased speed. On a 12- to 15-hour mission, how passengers feel when they arrive can be more meaningful than another few hundred nautical miles of theoretical capability.
Gulfstream, meanwhile, has continued pushing from the other direction. The G800 now carries a published range of 8,200 nautical miles, while the G700 offers the larger cabin many Gulfstream customers wanted. Both benefit from Gulfstream's tremendous brand loyalty, worldwide support network and strong history of residual values.
But Gulfstream's success created an interesting challenge: availability.
Early G700 and G800 delivery positions became extremely difficult to obtain. That forced some longtime Gulfstream buyers, customers who ordinarily might never have seriously considered another manufacturer, to look at the Global 7500 and, now, the Global 8000.
That exposure matters.
Many discovered that Bombardier was no longer simply an alternative to Gulfstream. The Global 7500 had become a legitimate competitor at the very top of the market, and the Global 8000 pushes that competition another step forward.
Both manufacturers also deserve some criticism. At this level, increasingly small improvements in range and maximum speed can generate disproportionately large marketing headlines. The difference between 7,700, 8,000 and 8,200 nautical miles is impressive engineering, but it may have little impact on the missions most owners actually fly.
The better question isn't which aircraft has the biggest number?
It's which aircraft best fits the owner's mission, cabin requirements, operating profile, and increasingly, which one can actually be delivered when they need it.
Ultimately, there may not be a clear winner in the Gulfstream-Bombardier arms race.
And that's a good thing.
Competition has forced both manufacturers to build better aircraft, giving today's buyers two extraordinarily capable families of airplanes at the very top of business aviation.