- November 13, 2015, 9:00 AM
OCTOBER 2014
Dassault Falcon Jet launches a new aircraft on ground (AOG) response program at the NBAA show in Orlando, Fla. The customer support program will use two company-owned Falcon 900s as rapid-response aircraft–one based at Teterboro airport in New Jersey, the other at Le Bourget in France. Dassault is embarking on building a new 77,000-sq-ft MRO facility in Bordeaux, France.NOVEMBER 2014
Dassault Aviation buys back 810,072 shares held by Airbus Group, reducing the European conglomerate’s minority stake in the French manufacturer from 46 to 42 percent. Airbus pledges a “best efforts” commitment to sell up to 10 percent of Dassault’s share capital by June 2015, although this percentage increased later.DECEMBER 2014
Falcon jets will soon operate with virtually “paperless” cockpits. The goal is to limit paper to just a few aircraft performance graphs. Dassault recently integrated the Falcon Sphere flight software suite into the aircraft’s electronic flight bags. The system includes takeoff and landing performance modules, which makes it easy to update a runway performance calculation if one parameter, such as an extra passenger, changes at the last minute. The Falcon 5X twinjet and Falcon 8X trijet, both large-cabin business jets, are being prepared to fly in the first half of 2015. A full-scale cabin mockup of the 5,200-nm 5X was presented at December’s Dubai airshow. A derivative of the in-service 7X, the 6,450-nm 8X is planned to be able to fly nonstop from New York to Dubai. The 8X was unveiled December 17 at Dassault’s headquarters in France. The firm’s best-selling business jet in the Middle East is still the 7X (50 percent of sales in the region over the last five years). At its Saint-Cloud headquarters near Paris, Dassault engineers are making intensive use of the “Falcon simulation bench,” a tool for preparing flight-test campaigns.JANUARY 2015
The Falcon 8X (first delivery expected late 2016) is sold out until the end of 2017. Moreover, Dassault already has about 50 firm orders.FEBRUARY 2015
Dassault’s new flagship–the Falcon 8X–flies for the first time February 6, seven weeks after the rollout ceremony. It took off at 2 p.m. local time from Bordeaux Mérignac Airport and landed at 3:45 p.m. Pilots tested handling and systems at 15,000 feet and later reached a speed of Mach 0.80. The 8X will accrue about 500 hours in the flight-test program in the coming months. The cabin interior work was done at the completion facility in Little Rock, Ark.MARCH 2015
Dassault Falcon Jet president and CEO John Rosanvallon deemed 2014 a “good year,” as the company’s combined order intake increased 11 percent, to $5.27 billion. However, Dassault Falcon delivered 66 Falcons in 2014, down from 77 in 2013. There were 27 Falcon 7X deliveries in 2014, down from 43 the year before. Dassault Falcon Jet promoted Rodrigo Pesoa to senior director of sales for Latin America. He will focus on South America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Ghana’s presidential jet, a Dassault Falcon 900, experiences a wheel fire and loses both wheels from the left main landing gear during an aborted takeoff in Accra. The president was not on the flight, and none of people on board were injured.APRIL 2015
At the ABACE show in Shanghai, Dassault displays the Falcon 7X, Falcon 2000 and Falcon 900. China remains the top country for Falcon sales in the region. The French manufacturer announces it expects the new Falcon 8X to achieve a similar acceptance level in the Asia-Pacific region to the 7X. China is the second-largest market for the 7X, behind the U.S. At Shanghai, China’s Deer Jet signs an agreement with Dassault Aviation to establish a Beijing service center to provide Falcon jet owners in the region with both line and scheduled maintenance. All Chinese-registered Falcon 7Xs will have access. Airbus Group is preparing to sell a 17.5 percent stake (1.61 million shares) in Dassault Aviation by April 24. The move will reduce its holding to approximately 24.5 percent. This 17.5-percent rate is higher than the 10-percent rate Airbus pledged to divest last November.MAY 2015
At the EBACE convention in Geneva, Switzerland, Dassault announces that Falcon business jet sales are off to a good start in 2015. Three of the Falcon 8X trijets are involved in flight testing, while the 5X twinjet will roll out in June, with its first flight this summer. At EBACE, Rockwell Collins announces that Dassault selected the company to provide its Venue cabin management system for the new Falcon 5X and 8X jets. Dassault Aviation has a service center network worldwide of 45 sites, including Le Bourget, France; Wilmington, Del.; Little Rock, Ark.; and São Paulo, Brazil. In 2004, there were only 26 service sites. One in nine of the Falcon 20s delivered are still in operation. FalconResponse launches, with the aim to return grounded aircraft to service more quickly.JUNE 2015
The Falcon 5X makes its first appearance June 2 at the factory in Bordeaux, France. The 5X will be 50 percent more fuel efficient and cost 30 percent less to operate than competing models. The $45 million jet has a range of 5,200 nm (11 hours, 30 minutes in the air) and a top speed of Mach 0.90. With a large number of 5X and 8X deliveries expected, the completion center in Little Rock, Ark., is in the midst of a major expansion. At June’s Paris air show, the Falcon 8X makes its public debut on home territory. There were six Falcon deliveries in the first quarter of 2015, three fewer than the nine in the first quarter of 2014. Dean Anderson, director of service network and maintenance training, leads a team that is continually improving the Falcon Training Policy Manual, thus significantly reducing the number of customer complaints to senior management.JULY 2015
At its midyear review July 23, Dassault Aviation reports a slowdown in first-half sales (18). The Falcon backlog stood at 108 aircraft as of June 30. NetJets cancelled a bulk order of 20 Falcon 2000s.AUGUST 2015
ExecuJet Aviation Nigeria, based in Lagos, joins Dassault’s service network.SEPTEMBER 2015
