There'll Be New 7X-Based Falcons, Dassault Tells Full NBAA House
Despite the hour, it was standing room only in the vast
Plaza International Ballroom of the Peabody Hotel at 7 a.m. on the NBAA
Convention's opening day as Dassault Falcon Jet welcomed North American dealers
and customers to breakfast. The who's who of the company at the top table
comprised president emeritus Serge Dassault, son of founder, Marcel; Charles
Edelstenne, the current CEO and president; John Rosanvallon, CEO and president
of Dassault Falcon Jet; Olivier Villa, senior vp, civil aircraft; and Gerry
Goguen, senior vp, customer service.
Demand was high for the latest information on the Falcon 7X,
this week being the first opportunity for most to see the real hardware (which
took to the air only last May) on the American continent. With three prototypes
now flying, dealers have been promised updated performance and configuration
data in the very near future— with a strong hint that the significant numbers
will be better than first promised, thanks to some "tweaks" now in flight-test.
Fresh impetus to sales will be provided by giving "DX"
treatment to the Falcon 2000, representatives were told. Like the Falcon 900DX
now ready for first deliveries, the 2000DX will offer more range, more weight
and better economics when it comes on line in late 2007.
After that, there may be a super-midsize Falcon, for which
studies are under way. This, says Edelstenne, will be based on the Falcon 7X,
so the opportune moment for its formal announcement will be more a matter of
economics than availability of the appropriate technology.
No name has yet been suggested for this follow-on, although
Dassault was known some time ago to be working on a new family of business jets
to be designated, smallest upward, Falcon 5X, 7X and 9X. We shall see.
