For the past two decades the G550 has reigned supreme among large cabin ultra long-range aircraft in the private jet space. It survived the introduction in 2012 of the newer, faster, longer range sibling the G650/G650ER, and even survived after production ceased nearly five years ago. But as one client and owner put it succinctly… “It’s the Swiss Army knife of long-range jets.” It simply does everything great and even after the very first G550 was delivered in 2003, there are now pre-owned examples for every budget from 2003 models around $12,000,000 to some of the last models delivered in 2020 for around $35,000,000. Compared to its OEM competitors from Bombardier, the now becoming ancient XRS and the newer out of production Global 6000, G550’s outsold each of these models five to one, or sometimes even more one-sided. Back in 2017, nearly ten G550’s sold for every one XRS. The 6000 wasn’t far behind those figures until very recently.
During the Covid 19 period, of course demand for private jets exploded and nearly everything with wings that was airworthy sold for ridiculous prices. Once past Covid, the private jet market began to normalize again and markets which prior to Covid were not very active or weak began to revert to the norm so to speak. The XRS market was a case in point which saw only eleven closed deals over the past twelve months versus fifty-three in the 550 market. But the Global 6000 market, which twelve months earlier was still very robust, exploded in Q4 of last year and continued to show strength in 2025. As of this moment, seven 6000’s are under contract, after eight closed last quarter. While a quick scan of the G550 market shows similar deals pending, buyers still have two dozen other G550’s to choose from, while 6000 buyers are left with less than half a dozen 6000’s to choose from due to the fact that Gulfstream produced over six hundred G550’s, while only slightly more than three hundred 6000’s were produced before production stopped in 2019. On a percentage basis, less than one percent of the in-service 6000 fleet is available, creating the tightest market conditions for a pre-owned example since production started in 2011. Much like the G550, the 6000 has now been eclipsed by Bombardier’s newer Global 7500, but even that model languishes on the pre-owned market, much like the XRS, with sales being few and far between in the pre-owned space. This of course begs the question of why the 6000 has suddenly taken off, no pun intended? Factors that have increased the popularity of the Global 6000 is more spacious cabin with regard to width and height (the 550 still has the longer cabin of the two), newer, more modern interior design, and more advanced avionics. These factors, couple with the fact that the newer 6000 sports a true four zone cabin with a crew rest, something the G550 can’t match, means for the first time in years the G550 has a viable competitor that matches the G550 in all but range with newer features and a more spacious cabin at pre-owned prices that now present strong value versus the G550.
So, has the King been dethroned? Yes and no, the 6000 is now a viable competitor that new owners can rest assured will present a good value at resale time and will no longer be a second-best competitor to the G550, that will languish on the market unsold for months, while G550’s are flying off the shelf. While the 6000 will never sell in numbers similar to the G550, due to much lower production, the King now has company in the large cabin space.
