Record Deliveries And New Aircraft Added To Purchase Planning Handbook
Gulfstream Aerospace's G700 received EASA and FAA certification in 2024.
Business aviation is powering through the shifting political realities in Washington and the ups and downs in the economic markets. By all indications, when the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) publishes its year-end figures right after we go to press, we will see that 2024 surpassed 2023, itself a record year, when it came to deliveries and revenue in the sector.
Cases in point: General Dynamics, parent of Gulfstream Aerospace, reported in late January that its 2024 revenue increased more than 30%, driven substantially by sales of the new Gulfstream G700. In the 2025 Purchase Planning Handbook (PPH), you can review the key specifications and performance figures for this $82 million bespoke top-of-line ultra-long-range beauty, which received FAA certification in March 2024. The G700 is bracketed on the left (slightly lower price) by the Bombardier Global 7500 and Global 8000 models, and on the right only by the significantly more expensive Boeing and Airbus business/corporate jets.
Other OEMs, except for Textron Aviation—which was shuttered for a month by a strike—saw similarly positive results. Embraer got a big jump on 2025 earnings with its announcement in early February of a $7 billion sale of 182 Praetor and Phenom 300E jets to Flexjet to be delivered over the next six years. The Phenom 300E, nominally priced at $12.9 million, is bracketed in price and performance by the Citation CJ4 Gen 2 and Pilatus PC-24. The Praetor 500 and 600 models clock in at $20.6 million and $24 million, respectively. Looking in the 2025 PPH table, it is clear that one significant benefit of the Praetor 500 and 600 are the 40% and 100% increases, respectively, in NBAA IFR range as compared to the Phenom 300E. Similar in price and performance with the Praetor 500 and Praetor 600 are the Citation Latitude and Gulfstream G280, respectively.
At the lighter end of the business aviation spectrum, the sheer number of single-engine turboprops highlights the continued popularity of this growing family of aircraft, bookended by the $2.6 million Cessna Caravan and the $7.3 million Beechcraft Denali, not yet certified. A good indicator of increasing demand is the continued upward pricing we have seen in this family of turboprops over the past several years.
As in previous years, we updated the PPH by asking the aircraft manufacturers to review and refresh the previous year’s data—or to add new models—using a standard format we provide in a six-page “How To” manual that includes a BCA Required Equipment List—see table. Production-conforming aircraft that have completed first flight before the late January deadline for input can be listed in the table, but the numbers are denoted in blue, italicized font to indicate preliminary data. When everyone plays by the same rules, we level the playing field so you, the buyer, owner, flight department and chief pilot, can get a clear picture of the engineering tradeoffs that come with every aircraft design choice. We go above and beyond the spec sheets that you find online to give you a comprehensive picture of the performance you can expect for the types of missions that business aviation operators typically conduct.
In this year’s PPH, we are listing the latest details for six aircraft that are nearing certification, three from Textron—the Beechcraft Denali, Citation CJ3 Gen 2 and Citation Ascend—two from Gulfstream—the G400 and G800—and one from Bombardier, the Global 8000. Not yet in the PPH but under development are Textron’s Gen 3 models of the M2, CJ3 and CJ4, slated for certification in the 2026-2027 timeframe, and likely several other aircraft that we will hear about this year. “All of the OEMs have type certification projects underway at regular or higher-than-regular pace,” says Jens Hennig, vice president for operations, safety & security at GAMA.
As with any engineering program, there are always challenges to overcome. Of immediate concern this year is the ability of the FAA to keep up with industry in certifying aircraft, an issue exacerbated by the extra support required for new entrants like powered-lift and uncrewed aircraft systems manufacturers that do not have organization designation authorization. The agency is challenged on at least two workforce fronts: A large number of new engineers are relatively inexperienced, and a significant pool of experienced experts are eligible to retire or are otherwise being encouraged to leave federal service under the Trump administration’s government-reduction initiatives.
The good news is that even with the roadblocks, business aircraft manufacturers continue to find ways to create, build and support incredibly safe and reliable aircraft that have proven to be desirable acquisitions for a growing number of companies and individuals. The numbers don’t lie. We trust you will find this year’s PPH, as usual, a dependable source—a truth model—for the data and information you need to do your job.
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