Before Gulfstream acquired Galaxy Aerospace in 2001, Gulfstream simply referred to the very top of the private jet market, the Ritz-Carlton of private jets, the Rolls Royce of business jets; take your choice.

Those signature oval windows made a Gulfstream easy to spot from the other side of the runway.

The start wasn’t what the OEM hoped. “Bombardier’s challenge to Gulfstream’s dominance of the market for large corporate jets was fraught with perils that would show up on early-production aircraft nearly 10 years later. Interior completions took way too long; water, sanitation, and fuel lines froze; and the avionics system annoyed pilots with myriad erroneous engine-indication-and-crew-alerting-system (EICAS) messages-garbage CAS, in pilot lingo,” Mark Huber wrote in Business Jet Traveler back in 2011.

However, times change, and Canadian manufacturer Bombardier Business Aircraft has, over the past two decades, firmly positioned its Global Express family of ultra-long-haul private jets as a fierce rival to Gulfstream.

The first in the line – the Bombardier Global Express (BD-700) was announced in October 1991. It was officially launched on December 20, 1993. The first flight was on October 13, 1996. In 1998 it received Canadian (July) and US (November) certifications. Customer deliveries started in 1999.

Bombardier initially expanded its Global Express line with the Global 5000 aircraft, which was announced in 2001. The aircraft is a shorter-range and slightly smaller version of its predecessor. The company then announced the Global Express XRS in 2003, which featured an increased range and improved cabin. Further improvements, including a new Bombardier Vision avionics suite and redesigned cabin were introduced in 2012, when production began on the Bombardier Global 6000. With a range of 6,000nm (travelling at Mach 0.85 with eight passengers), the Global 6000 aircraft is aimed at customers se

The Global Express shares several similarities with the earlier CRJ line and the Challenger 600. However, what really stands out about this jet is that it was a pioneer among ultra-long-range business jets, becoming one of the first to provide operators with a comfortable, quick platform for intercontinental travel.