How much a Gulfstream G280 costs: purchase and running costs

Listings for the Gulfstream G280 start at $11.9 million; a new aircraft from the factory runs around $24.5 million, to my knowledge. That is a twofold spread inside a single type that has had exactly one production version across its whole programme. Here is where the spread comes from and what to budget for running the aircraft.

The price corridor

Prices are benchmarks from open listings and market guides as of August 2026, to my knowledge. The cost of a specific aircraft is calculated from its records and its equipment.

Full specifications and photographs are on the model page.

One version across thirteen years of production

The G280 is a deep rework of the G200: a new wing with greater sweep, Honeywell HTF7250G engines, a cabin 43 cm longer than its predecessor, and a T-tail. The airframe is built by Israel Aerospace Industries in Tel Aviv, with final completion at the Gulfstream centre in Dallas.

First flight was on 11 December 2009; Israeli and FAA certification came on 4 September 2012, and deliveries began the same year. Until July 2011 the programme was called the G250 — the combination "250" was judged awkward for several markets. One production version has been built across the whole programme, with no variants; 300 aircraft had been delivered by June 2025 and production continues.

That changes how comparison works. In long-running families the same name covers aircraft of different technical generations. On the G280 the technical level is common, and price diverges by year of build, hours flown, component condition and equipment.

The second consequence is a narrow market. Three hundred aircraft in thirteen years means a handful of listings at any time, and the configuration you want takes months to find. On exit the arithmetic is the same: finding a buyer takes longer than on a Challenger 350.

What moves the price inside the type

Year of build. A 2013 aircraft and a 2023 aircraft are separated by a decade of calendar checks. Calendar checks fall due by date regardless of flying, and early airframes have accumulated noticeably more of them.

Hours and cycles counted separately. An aircraft working ninety-minute legs accumulates cycles several times faster at the same total hours. Airframe life is consumed by cycles, and two aircraft with identical hours are worth different money.

Engines. The HTF7250G is the most expensive single item on the aircraft. The gap between a fresh set and an aircraft approaching removal reaches a substantial share of the price. Alongside it sits the status of the hourly-cost programme: active coverage transfers to the new owner and counts as an asset in the deal, while backdated enrolment costs more than continuous participation.

Communications and surveillance equipment. Aircraft from the first years of production need upgrades to meet current airspace requirements: hundreds of thousands of dollars and weeks out of service.

Cabin. Layouts run from eight seats in a double club to nine or ten with a divan, with an optional berth, a galley, an aft lavatory and in-flight baggage access. The year of the last refit shows up in the price.

Records. Continuity of entries, agreement between airframe, engine and component times, completed directives and service bulletins, and the provenance of replaced components. Every gap is deducted from the price. What is visible before the inspection is covered in reading the seller's document pack.

The G280 against its neighbours

Two things follow from the table. On entry price the G280 sits mid-class and well below a new Longitude. On range it beats both Bombardier aircraft and the Longitude, giving way only to the Praetor 600 — where entry costs more: a median around $24 million against G280 listings from $11.9 million, to my knowledge. The conversation about that pair comes down to the service network, recognition of the records in your jurisdictions, and residual value seven years out.

The second comparison runs inside the Gulfstream line. The G200, with the same capacity and 6,300 km of range, costs a quarter as much at $2.7–5.5 million: it left production in 2011, and the difference goes into airframe age, avionics and engines. For a mission that calls for a G280, that purchase turns into an upgrade and calendar-check budget.

Neighbouring model pages: Challenger 350, Challenger 3500, Citation Longitude, Praetor 600, G200.

What to budget for running costs

The sums depend on annual hours, the region you are based in, the maintenance arrangement and crew composition. A market average misleads here.

The fixed block runs regardless of flying. Crew — two pilots in the standard complement. Hangar or parking, insurance, calendar checks, continuing airworthiness management, aircraft management. A flight attendant in this class is added for specific missions and shifts the fixed block noticeably.

The variable block is counted from hours. Fuel, line maintenance, contributions to the engine and APU programmes, ground handling along the route.

Annual hours decide more than anything else. At a hundred hours the fixed block lands on each hour as a hundredth; at four hundred, as a four-hundredth. Same aircraft, and the cost per hour differs fourfold.

Airport fees are calculated from maximum take-off weight. From the guides: Citation Longitude 17,917 kg, G280 17,960 kg, Challenger 350 and 3500 around 18,416 kg, Praetor 600 19,440 kg. A tonne and a half of spread inside the class shows up on every landing, because fee scales at many airports are banded and the band boundary runs on weight.

Long legs add their own lines. On a transatlantic sector the crew rests to duty limits at the destination: hotels, per diems and aircraft downtime sit outside the flight hour.

The overall cost structure for the class is set out in the article on running a private jet.

When the type pays for itself

The G280 earns its place on regular six- to seven-hour legs with a group of up to ten, and on transatlantic sectors flown in one hop, from 200 hours a year.

At a hundred hours a year on routes inside three hours, an aircraft of this class carries air: the fixed block stays where it is and the airframe's range goes unused.

Exiting the aircraft on a narrow market takes longer than on a mass-market type, and that belongs in your ownership horizon. What eats residual value is covered separately.

What to do

1. Set a budget inside the $11.9–24.5 million range: the difference comes from year of build, hours and cycles, engine time remaining, programme status and the avionics fit.
2. Compare the G280 with the Praetor 600 and the Challenger 3500 against your actual route network over the past two years.
3. Ask for the records on every candidate before the price conversation.
4. Check the status of hourly-cost programmes on the engines and on the APU.
5. Establish the scope of communications and surveillance upgrades for your airspaces.
6. Allow several months in your search schedule: suitable listings number in the single digits.

Conclusion

The price spread is built from year of build, hours flown, engine time remaining and equipment. There are no technical generations inside the type, so the buyer's work moves onto the records of the specific aircraft.

On entry price the type sits mid-class in the super-midsize segment with the best range among its direct Bombardier and Cessna competitors. A narrow market of three hundred aircraft makes the search long and the exit slow.

Figures in this article are benchmarks from open listings, to my knowledge. Specifics are calculated from the aircraft itself.

Alexander Filimonov — business aviation: sourcing, acquisition and entry into service of aircraft.