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The business jet market continues to improve as the preowned inventory shrinks and demand for new aircraft recovers in North America and the Asia-Pacific region, Dassault Aviation CEO and president Eric Trappier said yesterday during a press conference at its facilities in Saint-Cloud, Paris, outlining the company’s 2018 first-half financial results. But, he added, prices for second-hand aircraft remain low and the competition for new aircraft sales remains “very tough.”
The French OEM logged orders for 18 Falcons in the first six months, compared with 14 in the year-ago period. This is net orders, after cancelations for the 5X, the program that Dassault pulled due to problems with the 5X's Safran Silvercrest engine. Trappier declined to provide a breakdown of the orders but told AIN some 5X customers shifted their order to the new 6X or existing Falcon models like the 7X, while some outright canceled their orders. Some are new 6X sales, he said.
Dassault delivered 15 Falcon jets to customers in the first half, two fewer than a year ago, though it still plans to deliver 40 Falcons in 2018 as it estimated earlier this year. Falcon backlog stood at 55 aircraft on June 30, worth €2.5 billion ($2.9 billion), compared with 52 at the end of 2017 when 5X orders were still included in the figure.
Dassault sees a recovery in the business aviation market and logged orders for 18 Falcons in the first six months of 2018, compared with 14 in the year-ago period, chairman and CEO Eric Trappier reported during the company's first-half financial results at its facilities in Saint-Cloud, Paris on July 19. This is net orders, after cancelations for the 5X, the program that Dassault pulled in December due to problems with the 5X's Safran Silvercrest engine. “So we sold more than 18 aircraft,” Trappier noted. He declined to provide a breakdown of the orders but told AIN some 5X customers shifted their order to the new 6X or existing Falcon models like the 7X, while some outright canceled their orders. Some are new 6X sales, he said. Falcon backlog stood at 55 aircraft on June 30, worth €2.5 billion ($2.9 billion), compared with 52 at the end of 2017 when 5X orders were still included in the figure.
The market has taken the advent of the 6X “very well,” according to Trappier, adding Dassault hopes “to be able to stick to our commitments in terms of delivering these airplanes by 2022.” The company is keeping a close watch on the additional design to integrate the Pratt & Whitney PWC 812D engine and “it’s going forward very well,” he said. He remained tight-lipped on the discussions with Safran about compensation for the troubled Silvercrest engine and the impact on ending the 5X project, saying only “discussions are underway. Either there will be an agreement, or there’ll be no agreement.”
Trappier is not concerned that Bombardier’s Global 6500 will enter into service—foreseen for end 2019—earlier than the 6X, claiming the “market can wait once it knows the product is worth waiting for, and that seems to be the case.” Besides, he said, “The Global 6500 is not a new plane. It’s a Global 6000 with a new engine, so it remains a Global 6000…We’ve taken a different option, that is the 6X, with a 5,500-nautical-mile range, with a wide cabin, much more modern.”
The business jet market continues to improve as the preowned inventory shrinks and demand for new aircraft recovers, mainly thanks to the U.S. and the Asia-Pacific region, Trappier noted. “We have a lot of trouble finding a preowned 7X,” he said while conceding there is “a lot of pressure from the competition” in the new aircraft market.
Dassault delivered 15 Falcons in the first half, compared with 17 units shipped in the year-ago period. It still aims to deliver a total of 40 business jets this year. The company declined to provide further details about the design and engineering progress on the rumored future 9X model.
In addition, the company is seeing improved prospects in the defense sector. Rafale orders, deliveries, and backlog were up year-over-year. The option for 12 additional aircraft held by Qatar came into force at the end of March, lifting Dassault’s sales tally to 12 units in the first half compared to none in 2017. The airframer delivered two of the fighters in the first six months, to France, and this will increase to 12 by the end of the year, consisting of three Rafales for France and nine for Egypt and Qatar. The backlog rose to 111 examples, up from 101 on June 30, 2017.