Bahrain 2012: Gulfstream bullish about regional prospects

At the Dubai Airshow last year Larry Flynn, Gulfstream’s president, said that the Middle East remains a growing market for the company’s business jets and that political turmoil of the Arab Spring had “not had as much impact as we expected”.

As a result, Gulfstream’s long-range, large-cabin products – the G450, G550 and soon-to-be-certified G650 – continue to find favour. The US airframer says its share of Middle East large-cabin business jet sales exceeds 40%.

Gulfstream’s sales are now predominantly international, with about 70% of recent orders coming from outside the US. A decade ago, the Gulf accounted for 7% of the 1,000 Gulfstreams in operation. Today the number of Gulfstreams flying has grown to 2,000, with this region accounting for 8% of that total.

Jet Aviation Dubai is an authorised service centre for the product line and the Swiss company also has Gulfstream-authorised service facilities in Jeddah and Riyadh.