Dassault Aviation is maintaining its full-year guidance and still expects to deliver 35 Falcon business jets and 15 Rafale fighters this year despite a weak first half. “The global context remains marked by the war in Ukraine and the associated instability,” company chairman and CEO Eric Trappier said yesterday in releasing first-half 2023 results. He conceded that the strained supply chain environment has deteriorated further since last year.
The French OEM delivered nine Falcons in the first six months, down from 14 in the same period last year. Further, it registered net orders for just 12 Falcons, less than a third of the 41 it sold in first-half 2022.
“The post-Covid upturn [in the business jet market] in growth witnessed in 2022 began to ease off in the last quarter of 2022, a slowdown that continued in the first half of this year,” Trappier noted. He touted the progress of the company’s two new models—the Falcon 6X and 10X—and expressed confidence the first 6X would be delivered this year.
Meanwhile, Dassault did not conclude any additional Rafale fighter jet contracts in the first half versus 87 a year ago. Deliveries also fell to four Rafales in the first half, compared with seven in the year-ago period.
By value, aircraft order intake fell from €16.3 billion ($18.3 billion) in the first half of 2022 to €1.7 billion.