Story ID: 018a
Dassault Continues MRO Expansion with Melbourne Site
By: Jerry Siebenmark
Caption: The Falcon service center in Melbourne, Florida, marks Dassault’s latest move to bolster its service support in the U.S.
Word Count: 461
In its continuing efforts to bring more maintenance work in-house, Dassault Falcon plans to begin construction in the second half of the year on a 175,000-sq-ft maintenance facility at Melbourne Orlando International Airport (KMLB) in Florida. An opening is expected in late 2024.
Dassault’s aim with the facility is to serve Falcon customers in North and South America. The facility will accommodate major maintenance and modifications on up to 18 Falcon aircraft simultaneously. “This new factory service center will considerably grow our presence in the U.S., positioning us to keep up with demand for state-of-the-art maintenance services as the Falcon fleet grows and as new models such as the Falcon 10X and the extra widebody Falcon 6X enter service,” said Dassault Aviation chairman and CEO Eric Trappier.
As a heavy maintenance facility, the center will handle a range of inspections, repairs, and overhauls such as line maintenance and C-checks, as well as engineering and modification services. Features will include workshops, customer offices and lounges, and a large warehouse to support work there. The Melbourne service center will also have a 54,000-sq-ft paint shop and serve as a regional distribution hub for parts.
Dassault selected Melbourne as the site for its maintenance facility because of the area’s skilled workforce, which includes about 35,000 people employed in aviation and aerospace. The region is also home to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the Florida Institute of Technology. “We extensively evaluated several areas before we found that the business environment in Florida, along with its highly skilled workforce on the Space Coast, to be the perfect combination for this project,” Trappier said.
The Melbourne project marks Dassault’s latest move to bolster its service support in the U.S. The OEM added service capacity at its other U.S. sites, including its Little Rock, Arkansas completions center and service centers in St. Louis, Missouri; Stuart, Florida; and Reno, Nevada. Specifically, an additional maintenance bay was added in Reno, along with improved customer amenities and more efficient work areas.
Internationally, Dassault has bolstered its service network in the past couple of years through the roll-up of ExecuJet MRO Services, TAG Maintenance Services—now Dassault Aviation Business Services—and Ruag’s operations in Geneva and Lugano, Switzerland. That growth is continuing into this year with the opening of a 163,000-sq-ft ExecuJet MRO Services heavy maintenance facility in Dubai.
The company has also begun construction on a 149,500-sq-ft heavy maintenance center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. When complete, that facility will accommodate between 18 and 24 Falcons, including the 6X and 10X. In all, Dassault has 40 factory service centers and 20 authorized service centers worldwide.