Dassault Aviation expects to start delivering Falcon 6X large-cabin business jets to customers imminently. The model gained EASA and FAA type certification in mid-August and training of the flight crew of the first Falcon 6X operator began in early September, the company confirmed to AIN.
The simultaneous certifications concluded a more than two-year-long test campaign during which three flight-test airplanes logged 1,500 flight hours.
The certification process was very demanding, said Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Eric Trappier, explaining that the Falcon 6X was the first new aircraft to be certified after the two fatal accidents of the Boeing 737 Max. The crashes, in October 2018 and March 2019, triggered a consideration of the integrity of the certification process to assure safety “in the U.S, even in Europe and the rest of the world,” he said.
“Everyone was very vigilant," Trappier told French news channel BFM Business, revealing that he expects first deliveries to take place in early November. "EASA, which was responsible for the Falcon 6X type certification, was very difficult with us, which is normal," he said. "Even for a large aircraft manufacturer like us, with a lot of experience, it was a lot of work.” He said the fly-by-wire Falcon 6X “combines the best qualities of Dassault Aviation’s world-leading business and fighter aircraft expertise to create the longest-range jet in its class with unparalleled passenger comfort and maximum mission flexibility.”
The 5,500-nm twinjet project was launched in February 2018, followed by rollout in December 2020, and first flight in March 2021. The aircraft’s maximum operating speed is Mach .90. Its engine, the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW812D, received approval last year from the FAA, EASA, and Transport Canada.
The Falcon 6X is being introduced into service in a turbulent context, with growing criticism of aviation’s—in particular business aviation's—perceived environmental footprint in Europe, supply-chain constraints, and a faltering order intake rate.
Dassault does not disclose sales by aircraft model, but the French OEM registered orders for just 12 business jets in the first six months of 2023, less than a third of the 41 Falcons it sold in the year-ago period. “We had a very good 2022 in terms of sales, with 64 orders taken,” Trappier remarked. "Now, it is slightly slower. The post-Covid upturn 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.”
The fear of a recession that emerged at the end of last year “may be a source of concern for our business,” the Dassault Aviation leader said. “When our [Falcon] business is doing well, the economy is doing well. When we're not doing so well, some people have some concerns about the global economy.”
Still, Trappier hopes Falcon sales will pick up once the 6X enters service. “There’ll be a demonstrator, and future clients will be able to assess the 6X in flight, and this will definitely boost the sales of 6X,” Trappier told analysts and reporters during the company’s first-half results presentation. Certainly in the U.S., customers typically wait to buy until after they are able to test the aircraft, he noted. Europe and the U.S. are the biggest Falcon markets, with Asia developing rapidly.
Dassault Aviation is maintaining its full-year delivery guidance and expects to turn over 35 Falcon jets in 2023—up from 32 in 2022 and 30 in 2021—despite a weak first half, which Trappier said was marked by a “continuing [difficult] supply-chain environment” and the difficulties involved in recruiting people. “This situation has an impact on the development and production of our aircraft, which we need to ramp up to meet our commitments,” he conceded.
The company delivered nine Falcons in the first six months of this year, compared with 14 in the first half of 2022.