While Cass said the G650 order book held up during the economic crisis, flight trials were marred by a 2011 crash in New Mexico that killed four Gulfstream employees. U.S. safety officials concluded in 2012 that company pressure to speed up testing caused the accident. Gulfstream President Larry Flynn responded that any failings by the planemaker were inadvertent.

Most Profitable?

The G650 may become Gulfstream’s most profitable aircraft ever, General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic told investors on Feb. 20 at a Barclays Plc conference. The jet uses 50 percent fewer parts than the smaller G550 and G450 and is assembled at a plant designed for the G650, according to Gulfstream.

“We don’t know internally how good we can get, but we know we can get a whole lot better,” Novakovic said of the plane’s profitability.

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