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Dassault Falcon Jet Advances Quietly On
New Programs, New Technology
With the postponement of NBAA 2001 following the terrorist attack
on the U.S., many business aviation companies have put off announcements
they had planned in less somber times.
Among them is Dassault Falcon Jet, based just a stone's throw
from Manhattan at Teterboro Airport. Falcon had planned a major
press conference for NBAA, but with many of its customers and
their companies reeling from the shock of the New York disaster,
president John Rosanvallon decided it is not an appropriate time
to talk about business.
Nevertheless, work continues in France on Falcon's new very-high-speed
long range FNX executive jet, and the popular Falcon 2000 continues
to roll out of the completion centers at the rate of almost one
a week.
The worldwide business jet boom--driven largely by the demand
for fractional ownership--has produced the busiest year in Falcon
Jet's history, with deliveries by the end of the year expected
to set a record 80 aircraft of all models. A recent milestone
was the delivery of the1,500th Falcon, a 2000 model, to the NetJets
fractional ownership program.
Some 1,350 Falcons are now in service in 66 countries, having
logged over nine million flight hours since the first Falcon 20
was introduced in 1963.
Executive Jets Inc. and its NetJets fractional ownership program
is currently the biggest single customer for Falcon Jet. It has
placed orders for 72 Falcon 2000s, and earlier this year added
another 25 firm and 25 options for the Falcon 2000EX equipped
with the EASy cockpit based on Honeywell's Primus Epic avionics.
It could be surpassed, however, by UAL Corp.'s new fractional
ownership program (UAL is the parent company of United Airlines).
United Bizjet earlier this year at the Paris Air Show announced
a $2.5 billion purchase of up to 100 Falcon 2000s and 900s, as
well as the longer range EX versions, for delivery from late next
year. United Bizjet has also stated its intention to offer smaller
executive aircraft as well.
The letter of intent covers 40 firm orders and 60 options. The
firm orders are for 30 Falcon 2000s or 2000EXs, and ten Falcon
900EXs. The options are for 50 Falcon 2000EXs and ten Falcon 900EXs.
United expects to take delivery of its first Falcon 2000 before
the end of 2002. Falcons are expected to constitute around one-third
of UAL's fractional fleet, which it has said it hopes to grow
to 200 aircraft by 2006.
The Falcon 2000 (and its EX derivative) is by far Falcon Jet's
largest program. The first EX is expected to fly for the first
time next month with its new Pratt & Whitney Canada PW306C
engines.
Another milestone anticipated by Falcon Jet will be the first
flight before the end of the year of its revolutionary EASy cockpit,
in a Falcon 900EX. EASy (it stands for Enhanced Avionics System)
is based on the belief that improved situational awareness can
yield a quantum improvement in the business jet accident rate,
which has remained virtually unchanged for two decades at one
in one million flight hours.
EASy's key features include more intuitive display systems, flight
planning using either a conventional keyboard or a graphic user
interface and point-and-click cursor control device (CCD), integrated
terrain display and intelligent menu management.
The system features four 14.1-inch LCD flat-panel displays arranged
in a "T" configuration, two multifunction keyboard units
in the pedestal and a cursor control device for each pilot.
EASy is slated for delivery aboard the Falcon 900EX in the second
quarter of 2003, and in the cockpit of the 2000EX in mid-2004.
It will also equip the FNX.
Business jets are becoming increasingly important to Dassault.
Last year some 71% of the $3.78 billion revenues at the Dassault
parent company resulted from business jet orders, compared with
68% in 1999, and 45% earlier.
Output has grown to about 70 Falcons of all models per year, and
production is being boosted to a record eight aircraft per month.
Dassault is 45.8% owned by EADS.
-John Morris
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