Bill Gates's Gulfstream G650ER N887GV flies from Brussels to London Stansted

Bill Gates's Gulfstream G650ER, tail N887GV, flew from Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium, to London Stansted Airport in Essex, United Kingdom, on Thursday, October 22, 2026. The aircraft departed at 07:17 UTC and landed at 08:03 UTC, spending 46 minutes in the air. The great-circle distance was 169 nautical miles, or 195 miles. This was a short hop across the English Channel.

The flight covered 169 nautical miles at an average ground speed of 221 knots, with a top ground speed of 403 knots and a highest altitude of 20,025 feet. Our estimate puts fuel burned at about 360 US gallons, producing about 3,454 kilograms of CO2, roughly the same as driving a car 8,549 miles. The Gulfstream G650ER is an ultra-long-range jet with a range of 7,500 nautical miles and a ceiling of 51,000 feet. It typically seats 12 passengers and can carry up to 19. This flight used about 2 percent of the aircraft's range.

London Stansted was not a destination for any of Bill Gates's tracked aircraft in the 30 days before this flight. The home base on file is King County International Airport, also known as Boeing Field, in Seattle. Usual destinations include Palm Springs, West Palm Beach, Las Vegas, and Bozeman. In the days before this trip, N887GV flew from Newark to Brussels on October 21, and from Palm Springs to Newark on October 19. Two other aircraft linked to Bill Gates, an Airbus H145 and a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, operate out of Boeing Field but have not flown internationally in that window.

Bill Gates is a Microsoft co-founder, philanthropist, and investor with a net worth estimated at $104 to $107 billion. He focuses on global health, development, and climate philanthropy through the Gates Foundation, Gates Ventures, and Breakthrough Energy. His home base is in Seattle, and he owns properties in Palm Springs-area communities, Florida, and Montana. London is a frequent destination for his aircraft, with Farnborough Airport listed as a usual stop, though no specific appearance was confirmed for this date. A web search did not turn up a public event tied to Bill Gates or his organizations near Stansted on this day.

The flight follows a pattern of short hops in recent weeks, including a 6-hour transatlantic leg from Newark to Brussels the day before. The aircraft had been on the ground for about 24 hours before this trip. The departure field at Brussels has a longest runway of 11,936 feet and sits at an elevation of 175 feet. The arrival field at Stansted has a longest runway of 10,003 feet and sits at an elevation of 348 feet.

The Gulfstream G650ER remains a workhorse for long domestic and international trips, and this short cross-Channel hop fits that role. The aircraft is registered to MENTE LLC, the same holding company behind Bill Gates's other tracked planes.