And while Dassault Falcon Jet is chronically chary with figures, it does boast of a 50% share (by value) of the higher-end business jet market (aircraft costing $17 million or more), and it says that its 99 aircraft sales in 1998 marked its best year ever. Dassault Falcon Jet won't speculate on a 1999 tally, but says combined jet aircraft deliveries will exceed 200 for this year, 2000 and 2001.

The company's newest model, the Falcon 900C, was certified by the
FAA less than two months ago, on August 26. The U.S. nod came two months after the 900C won French DGAC certification.

The $26.93 million 900C trijet is said to combine the best qualities of the superseded Falcon 900B and the advanced avionicsHoneywell Primus 2000of the long-range Falcon 900EX. The 900C has three AlliedSignal TFE731-5BR-1C engines yielding and max fuel NBAA IFR range of more than 3,860 nmi and a long-range TAS cruise speed of 426 knots.

Also with three engines is the most economical Falcon, the $17.78 million 50EX. It is equipped with Collins Pro Line 4 avionics as an upgrade to the old Falcon 50, and its trio of TFE731-40s make for a long range TAS cruise speed of 417 knots and max fuel NBAA IFR range of 3,240 nmi.

Dassault Falcon Jet's top-of-the-line offering is the 900EX, a trijet selling for $30.43 million. Its max fuel NBAA IFR range is an impressive 4,407 nmi with a long range TAS cruise speed of 436 knots. The Falcon 900EX has three TFE731-60 engines.
The only Falcon twinjet is the Falcon 2000, promoted as offering both high performance and transcontinental U.S. range: more than 3,000 nmi on a max fuel NBAA IFR basis. Long range TAS cruise speed is 417 knots. The aircraft sells for $20.16 million.

The Falcon 2000 is the only business jet with CFE738-1-1B engines from AlliedSignal-GE, a fact that's led to speculation that the aircraft might be re-engined to eliminate the "orphan" situation. Don't watch for any such announcement here in Atlanta, a Dassault Falcon Jet spokesman told Show Newsalthough he did acknowledge awareness of the engine situation. "Dassault is always considering everything," he said when asked specifically about new engines for the Falcon 2000.

One thing that had been under serious consideration at Dassault was an all-new, supersonic business jet, which would of course be the first-ever. But Dassault Falcon Jet said earlier this year that insurmountable engine durability issues had forced it to shelve its SST schemeat least for now.

Engineers did however identify 4,000 nmi and Mach 1.8 as optimum range and speed "to maximize time savings while still allowing a fairly conventional aircraft structure" of titanium and composites.

Before the program was put on hold, Dassault was quick to note that it's the only company in the Western world with both supersonic and business jet experience. "Assuming that a supersonic business jet will be inevitable at some future point in time, Dassault is neatly poised to take the leadership position," the company said in March.

All of the Falcon planes are built in France and nearly all are flown green to Little Rock for completion. Dassault Falcon Jet is expanding exponentially at the facility, which now boasts capacity for 60 aircraft per year in more than 478,000 square feet of space, up from 200,000 three years ago. Little Rock employment is well over 1,500, and will rise to nearly 1,700.

A new Dassault Falcon Jet Little Rock engineering building is to be announced here, as is a new 17,000-square-foot FlightSafety International center for Falcon maintenance technician training.