by Kerry Lynch AINonline

While deliveries dipped slightly in the first quarter, Gulfstream Aerospace executives are not seeing an appreciable difference in the market for its products. “Some deals are taking a little longer to get done,” said Mark Burns, who is set to succeed Larry Flynn as president of the aircraft manufacturer on July 1, “but it was still a very good quarter.” The company expects deliveries to remain relatively flat this year.

Scott Neal, senior vice president of sales and marketing, added that the company is seeing fairly solid activity on most of its product line, particularly the G650/650ER. He attributes the sales strength to the extended-range variant, as well as the shrinking wait time to about three years.

While the new G500 and G600 capture attention, Neal maintains the G450 and G550 are still selling. A key to these jets’ success is availability, with backlog extending only about a year, while the G500 and G600 are several years from entry into service. Also, he said, the G450 and G550 “are very different airplanes” from the new models in development.

The mid-cabins had languished leading up to entry into service of the G280, which boosted deliveries last year by about 10 units. The market for the G150, however, remains “very slow,” Burns said, but he added that there was some activity last week during EBACE on this model.