Dassault Falcon Manufacturing Halted by Forest Fires

Dassault Aviation has yet to specify the extent of disruption to manufacturing of its Falcon business jets and Rafale fighters from forest fires that have extended to just nine miles from its main assembly facility at Mérignac near Bordeaux in southwest France. On Monday, the company confirmed it had moved some “sensitive equipment” from its factory in Martignas and its Cestas logistics center—both of which are closer to the main fire sweeping through the Gironde region.

Except for staff needed to handle the transfer of equipment and site protection, employees at both the Mérignac and Martignas sites have been instructed not to report for work, according to a statement from Dassault reported by France’s AFP news agency. Aircraft assembly work at Mérignac has been suspended since Monday, and local emergency services reported overnight they had managed to halt the westward spread of the fire toward Bordeaux.

Dassault is targeting an increased production rate of 40 Falcon deliveries in 2026, along with 28 Rafales. In a first-half results call last week, the company acknowledged it had delivered only 13 Falcons through the end of June due to ongoing supply chain bottlenecks.

On Wednesday, local officials said that, despite some success in containing the fires, continuing high temperatures and strong winds threatened to further escalate the emergency, which has resulted in 220,000 people being evacuated. Scheduled flights have continued to operate at Bordeaux Airport, where Dassault’s Mérignac plant is located.