Dassault Falcon Sales, Deliveries Fall in 'Difficult Market'

Net orders for Dassault Falcons stood at 21 aircraft as of the end of 2016, down from 25 in 2015 and 67 in 2014. Last year’s tally reflects gross orders for 33 aircraft offset by 12 Falcon 5X cancellations—a result Dassault attributes to developmental delays on the Safran Silvercrest engine that caused initial customer deliveries of the new large-cabin business jet to slip to early 2020 from late this year. “The weakness of the order intake reflects a difficult business jet market,” the French aircraft manufacturer noted.

Deliveries of new Falcons fell by six aircraft year-over-year in 2016, to 49 aircraft, but the tally was “in line” with Dassault’s forecast for shipment of 50 aircraft. Backlog also eroded last year, dipping to 63 Falcons at year-end, compared with 91 as of Dec. 31, 2015.

Dassault Aviation will present full-year annual results and 2017 guidance on March 8 in Paris.