Gulfstream G550 applies for speed record

A luxury charter Gulfstream G550 flight between Edinburgh and Beijing is thought to have set a new world record, completing the journey in just eight hours, 47 minutes – around half the time it takes on a commercial flight via London. The £23m jet carried just 4 passengers on the journey at an estimated average speed of 0.87 Mach (just short of the speed of sound).

Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.

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One Comment

I’ve just looked up the specification sheet. The figures are interesting. It will burn 18 tonnes of fuel on maximum range at high speed and in doing so produce 58 tonnes of C02. Or in this case 14.5 tonnes of C02 /passenger. With 8 persons this would be 7.2 tonnes / passenger. This compares with a C02 footprint of 6.25 tonnes for a First Class passenger on a London to Hong Kong scheduled flight.
Its a shame they only took 4 passengers. Is that luxury? Would it have been better to take another 4 passengers?