Bill Gates's Gulfstream G650ER N887GV lands in Santiago after 5-hour 52-minute flight

Bill Gates's Gulfstream G650ER, tail N887GV, flew from Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago, Chile, to the same airport on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. The aircraft departed at 17:30 UTC and landed at 23:22 UTC, spending 5 hours and 52 minutes in the air. The great-circle distance was 21 nautical miles, or 25 miles.

The flight covered 21 nautical miles at an average ground speed of 4 knots, with a top ground speed of 514 knots and a highest altitude of 39,000 feet. Our estimate puts fuel burned at about 2,757 US gallons, producing about 26,481 kilograms of CO2, roughly the same as driving a car 65,546 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 was the first landing at Santiago in the 30-day window for all of Bill Gates's tracked aircraft. 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 Palm Springs to Santiago on November 2, covering 3,512 nautical miles in 6 hours and 59 minutes, and from Mountain View to Palm Springs on October 30.

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. A web search did not turn up a public event tied to Bill Gates or his organizations near Santiago on this date.

The aircraft had been on the ground for about 43 hours before this flight, after its previous tracked landing at Palm Springs on November 2. The departure and arrival field at Santiago has a longest runway of 12,303 feet at an elevation of 1,555 feet.

The aircraft's home base, King County International Airport in Seattle, is 5,593 nautical miles from Santiago. In the 30 days before this flight, all three of Bill Gates's tracked aircraft made 36 flights. The most common destinations were Mountain View, with five landings, and Seattle, with four landings.

The longest leg in that window was from Epping, Essex to San Jose on October 24, covering 4,659 nautical miles. That flight was also in N887GV. The aircraft's top speed is Mach 0.925, or 516 knots. Our estimate puts fuel burn at 470 US gallons per hour.

Two other aircraft are on file for this owner: N608GV, a 2021 Airbus H145 helicopter, and N897GV, a 2022 Cessna 208B Grand Caravan. Both are based at Hangar 80 at Boeing Field and are used for short hops around Puget Sound. The owner also uses NetJets fractional Challenger 350s.