Flexjet Brings the Gulfstream G700 Into Service, Expanding Its Global Reach

With aircraft costing around $80 million each before interiors and upgrades, Flexjet’s organic cash flow—roughly $400 million a year—would have limited expansion to only a couple of jets per year. “The $800 million is almost exclusively to expand that fleet as rapidly as we can,” he said.

The rush is about more than optics. Ultra-long-range jets scatter across continents, and reliability requires scale. Ricci calls it “critical mass,” which he pegs at about a dozen aircraft of the same type to ensure availability across the network. Flexjet’s goal is to hit that mark within the next year, even accounting for six- to nine-month interior completions and the complex choreography of pilot training. To crew six new Gulfstreams, he noted, “there are 24 pilot movements” across the rest of the fleet as aviators step up in sequence.

Flexjet’s co-CEO Michael Silvestro stressed the operational discipline behind the rollout: “The challenge is making sure you don’t get oversubscribed early.” To that end, the share of unencumbered G700s will be roughly three times higher than in the rest of the fleet, so availability matches the promise.

What changes on board (and why it matters)

If today’s announcement is about reach, it is also about what happens once clients are aloft. 

The G700’s cabin altitude is maintained at approximately 3,000 feet during cruise, with fresh air circulated every few minutes and soundproofing that enables quiet conversation and restful sleep. Co-CEO Andrew Collins described his first flight on the jet: “I flew from the Southeast to London and I slept, and I woke up and I was blown away. You just felt refreshed.”

Connectivity is equally critical. “You expect high speed and you expect connectivity,” Collins said. “That’s why we did the Starlink deal,” pointing to uninterrupted streaming and video calls as non-negotiable for today’s owners. Cabin design supports both work and wellness, with circadian lighting to blunt jet lag, a private suite convertible to a queen-length bed, and a galley capable of real meal service. 

Flexjet limits the G700 to around 15 passengers plus a dedicated cabin server, framing the experience around space and care rather than density.

In-house craftsmanship meets “luxury as story”

Flexjet’s vertical integration—the work of more than 1,500 technicians—means these G700s are customized in-house rather than farmed out to third-party shops. 

That control dovetails neatly with the LVMH partnership, announced earlier this year. Ricci sketched a vision in which cabin attendants may shed traditional uniforms in favor of seasonal Christian Dior ensembles, trained to tell the stories behind each interior as they would a couture line. One Art Deco-inspired interior design, for example, hides a cocktail “speakeasy” button in a nod to Prohibition.

The company is also exploring a private luggage line tailored to how private travelers actually pack: soft-sided, hang-friendly, and shallow enough to fit seamlessly into cabin holds. “Nobody that flies privately jams stuff into a suitcase,” Ricci said. “They want them hung.” The emphasis is on narrative and coherence rather than branding, aligning with LVMH’s view that true luxury rests on quality and distribution delivered directly.

Network logic: making the world “smaller”

With the G700, itineraries that once required fuel stops or airline segments compress into single-day journeys. 

“New York to Tokyo doesn’t even break a sweat,” Collins said, adding that city pairs at the far edge of Asia are now one-leg candidates depending on conditions. The aircraft’s range reinforces Flexjet’s globalization strategy: More than 40 transatlantic flights a week are already routine, and with European-registered aircraft in place, owners can now expect seamless continuity across regions.

Collins also points to a unified global scheduling platform—the “Holy Grail” in his words—that coordinates aircraft across Flexjet’s brands and continents. For clients, it means stepping off a G700 in Farnborough and finding the same service and branding on the apron as in Teterboro.

Sustainability, beyond the bullet point

The addition of ultra-long-range jets inevitably raises questions about sustainability, but Ricci is clear-eyed about regional contrasts: “In the U.S., nobody cares about sustainability; in Europe, it’s mandatory.” 

Flexjet’s strategy is to bake decarbonization into the product. Offsets are tracked and registered through a specialist partner. Sustainable aviation fuel is being added incrementally each year, scaled against Flexjet’s fuel purchases. And owners can request detailed annual reporting on their carbon footprint.

Collins emphasized substance over optics: “We try to do it where it’s SAF we can use versus just book-and-claim—we’ll do book-and-claim if we have to.” Beyond offsets and SAF, the company is investing in vertical-lift and eVTOL to learn short-distance, potentially electrified aviation, setting itself up to adapt as technology matures.

Why today’s announcement matters

Flexjet’s rivals can buy aircraft, but what today’s announcement signals is a convergence of speed, control, and culture. 

Speed comes from the LVMH infusion, which allows the company to build a G700 fleet at critical mass within a year. Control comes from in-house completions and maintenance, ensuring each jet is delivered and operated to Flexjet’s own standards. Culture is evident in service: Cabin crews are trained in the language of luxury storytelling, interiors are conceived as narratives rather than neutral spaces, and Flexjet’s operational discipline ensures availability.

Ricci has shown he is willing to spend to protect that vision, even undoing a planned public listing at a cost of more than $30 million when customers objected. “We take a very long-term approach as one of our fundamental principles,” he said. 

For Flexjet, the G700 is not just a flagship but a platform to carry that philosophy around the world—one nonstop at a time.