The Gulf region is a significant market for Dassault Aviation’s upcoming all-new extra widebody Falcon 6X and the ultra-long-range Falcon 10X, the company has revealed.

The 5,500 nm/10,186 km Falcon 6X has already received a significant number of orders from the Middle East and several aircraft are due for delivery to customers in the region shortly after its anticipated entry into service in mid-2023, the aviation major said.

Falcon 10X, due to reach the market in late 2025, has a range of 7,500 nautical miles and will fly non-stop from New York to Shanghai, Los Angeles to Sydney, Hong Kong to New York or Paris to Santiago. Its top speed will be Mach 0.925.

The 10X will have the biggest and most comfortable cabin on the market and offer greater modularity than any other aircraft in its class, with a selection of multiple interior configurations. Its cabin will be 6-ft 8-inches (2.03 m) tall and 9 ft 1 inch wide (2.77 m). That will make it almost 8 inches (20 cm) wider and 2 inches (5 cm) taller than the widest and tallest purpose-built business jet flying today.

Dassault Aviation exhibited its popular Falcon 8X very long range trijet at the recent Middle East & North Africa Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) show and exhibition in Dubai. “Operators in the Middle East highly value the performance, flexibility, robustness and technological excellence of large cabin models like the Falcon 8X, which draw heavily on decades of Dassault fighter aircraft experience,” said Eric Trappier, Dassault Aviation Chairman and CEO. “This appreciation can only grow with the arrival of the new Falcon 6X and 10X, which will set a new standard in the large cabin segment.”

Large-cabin Falcons like the 6,450 nm/11,945 km Falcon 8X make up a third of the 75 Falcons operating in the region. The Falcon 8X can fly non-stop from New York to Dubai, Dubai to Adelaide and Jeddah to Sao Paulo, yet easily access short runway airports like London City Airport or Lugano, Switzerland, that are typically off limits to big business jets. The aircraft’s spacious cabin is the quietest of any business jet on the market and its revolutionary FalconEye dual Head-Up Display option allows low visibility approaches with 100-foot minima, providing customers a significant operational benefit and greatly improving access to airports under bad weather conditions.

NEW MRO FACILITY

Meanwhile, Dassault continues improving and expanding its regional product support network.

In early 2023, the company’s ExecuJet MRO Services unit will open a 15,000-sq-m (163,000 sq ft) maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Dubai World Central to serve business jet operators in the Gulf region. The facility will be capable of servicing 18 to 24 aircraft simultaneously and will be sized to handle the very largest executive jets. It will be qualified to handle a full range of MRO activities, from line maintenance to major overhauls, and will serve Falcon operators as well as owners of other OEM brands, both regionally based and in transit.