Gulfstream Brings Planes, Optimism to India Aviation 2012

March 13, 2012
Gulfstream’s Sperry Cites New Products, Globalizing Businesses As Positive Trends For The Business-Jet Manufacturer

SAVANNAH, Ga., March 13, 2012 — Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. views India as a long-term growth market for its range of business jets, said its top official at India Aviation 2012, Roger Sperry, regional senior vice president, International Sales for South America and the Far East. Gulfstream brought its large-cabin, long-range G450 featuring the advanced Elite interior configuration as well as a wide-cabin, high-speed G150 to the show.

“Gulfstream has been part of the India market for more than two decades,” said Sperry, “providing long-range transportation to India’s largest companies. We have been part of their global growth and have, indeed, facilitated that growth by enabling executives to move rapidly and easily from continent to continent.

“Our market in the Asia Pacific has been our fastest growing of recent years, today accounting for 27 percent of our aircraft-order backlog. We’ve been moving more product support resources into the region to support today’s operators and position ourselves for growth.”

Gulfstream maintains an inventory of US $1.2 billion in parts around the world.

“We’re very pleased to announce at this show that we will be basing a country parts manager, Aniruddh Srivastava, in India beginning this year to oversee parts storage and distribution in the country,” Sperry noted. “We believe we will be ahead of the industry by having a dedicated manager here focused on this aspect of service to customers.” Gulfstream maintains major parts bases in the region, including Dubai and Hong Kong.

Commenting on the state of business aviation in India, Sperry said, “We are here to promote Gulfstream, but equally to promote the concept that business aviation builds businesses, particularly in a globalized economy.” Gulfstream customers have 20 business jets based in India and 175 in the Asia Pacific region, up from just 27 a decade ago.

“We are focused on the future,” Sperry said, noting that two new products, the G280 and G650, were slated for certification and customer delivery in the second quarter of this year.

“The G280 leads the super-midsize segment in performance, and the G650, with a range of 12,000 km and a top speed of Mach 0.925, simply creates a category unto itself. They will create great opportunities for us in India and around the world,” Sperry said.

Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), designs, develops, manufactures, markets, services and supports the world’s most technologically advanced business-jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,000 aircraft for customers around the world since 1958. To meet the diverse transportation needs of the future, Gulfstream offers a comprehensive fleet of aircraft, comprising the wide-cabin, high-speed Gulfstream G150®; the new large-cabin, mid-range Gulfstream G280®; the large-cabin, mid-range Gulfstream G350®; the large-cabin, long-range G450®; the large-cabin, ultra-long-range Gulfstream G500®; the large-cabin, ultra-long-range Gulfstream G550® and the ultra-large-cabin, ultra-long-range G650®. Gulfstream also offers aircraft ownership services via Gulfstream Pre-Owned Aircraft Sales®. The company employs more than 11,500 people at 11 major locations. We invite you to visit our website for more information and photos of Gulfstream aircraft at www.gulfstream.com.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 95,100 people worldwide. The company is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies. More information about General Dynamics is available online at www.gd.com.