Falcon's now flying high. The latest proof? National Air Services of Saudi Arabia last month confirmed an order for 12 Falcon 2000s to be used in Executive Jet, Inc.'s NetJets fractional ownership program, Dassault Falcon Jet president John Rosanvallon said here.

The NAS orders, plus three additional EJI orders, increases the total number of Falcon 2000 aircraft in fractional programs to 54, with six aircraft in the NetJets program.

"We're the only manufacturer with a fractional ownership program in the United States, Europe and the Middle East," Rosanvallon claimed.

Overall, Dassault has sold 160 Falcon 2000 aircraft, and the firm's Merignac factory recently delivered its 100th Falcon 2000 to Switzerland's Jet Aviation Basel for completion.

Lead time is Rosanvallon's biggest problem, he said. Falcon aircraft production is sold out until June 2001.

Yet Dassault is "the only aircraft manufacturer that delivers on time," Rosanvallon asserted here. Dassault Falcon Jet's newly expanded Little Rock completion plant has a staff of 1,600 and can complete 60 aircraft per year. The company says it's on schedule to deliver 210 aircraft from 1999 to 2001, with help from Jet Aviation Basel and a Dassault facility at Le Bourget, Paris. Forty percent of these deliveries will be Falcon 2000 aircraft, with 40% the 900-series and 20% 50EX airplanes accounting for the remainder.

Societa Nationale Netamodotii (SNAM) of Rome recently earned CAT III operational approval in its Falcon 2000, equipped with a Flight Dynamics head-up guidance system, noted Dassault Falcon Jet CEO Jean-Francois Georges. The operational approval, coming on the heels of European HGS equipment certification in the Falcon 2000 in 1997 and FAA certification in 1998, allows SNAM to use airports in northern Italy that suffer from low visibility conditions.

Sixty percent of Falcon 2000 aircraft and more than 80% of Falcon 900EX aircraft are fitted with HGS. Georges said that CAT III certification in the Falcon 900EX could be expected in "early 2000."

Georges said he doesn't see a need for enhanced vision system sensor technology any time soon. "We consider HUD symbology already to be an enhanced vision system," he said. The Dassault Falcon Jet chief observed that Air Inter's Mercure aircraft have been operating for quite some time with "total efficiency and safety."

As for EVS sensor development, Georges said, "It's not today. It will be much later."