• Home
• /
• Aviation

Dassault Falcon’s Middle East Sales to Hit $600 Million in Five Years

DUBAI — French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Falcon expects in the next five years to double its deliveries of luxury business jets in the Middle East, and forecast sales to reach $600 million.

Olivier Villa, Dassault Aviation senior vice-president for civil aircraft, said the Middle East is becoming a major growth driver for the plane maker which produces an average of 80 business jets annually, with deliveries averaging 35 yearly.

From 2006 to 2009, Dassault Falcon has delivered 21 large cabin aircraft in the region. In the next three years, it expects its Middle East fleet of 50 aircraft to grow by more than 50 per cent.

Currently, deliveries in the Middle East is about 8 per year, but this is seen growing to 16 in the next five years, said Villa.

“There is a huge potential for growth in this region, the wealth is here. The growth will be bigger as the market matures.”

The region has been a haven for Dassault Falcon, especially as the global slowdown has had a severe impact in US and Europe, its traditional markets. In recent years though, the business jet maker has been turning to emerging alternative markets, said Villa.

“Ten years ago, the US was our biggest market, then we turned to Europe. Now our biggest markets, and which continue to grow, are the Middle East, India, Brazil and China.”

In the Middle East, the company’s biggest markets are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

“We have had very few cancellations in these markets and we are booked solid until 2012.”

Villa is bullish about the prospects for the business jet models that Assault Falcon is peddling in the region.

“We are the only company that uses fighter plane technology, so our planes are very sophisticated. They all have the flexibility of making very difficult landing positions, and its biggest appeal is that it cuts fuel consumption by 40 per cent.”

Villa said the current bestsellers include the Falcon 7x which account for about 40 per cent of Dassault Falcon’s sales in the region, and the Falcon 2000LX. Both models are on display at the ongoing Dubai Air Show.

To bolster its sales, Dassault Falcon has set up a dedicated spare parts distribution and sales office in Dubai last year.

“Dubai is our hub in the Middle East. Putting up an office here is strategic for us because Dubai has attracted a lot of international companies that are potential customers. Our growimg customer base here is made up of high net worth individuals and corporates that want to maximise the productvity of their middle executives.”

The company is also evaluating several authorised service centers in the Middle East as part of its plan to expand its network that currently comprises 29 Falcon service centres, and five factory-owned service centres.

Dassault Falcon is a unit of Dassault Aviation, an aerospace company which operates in more than 70 countries. Assault Aviation produces the Rafale fighter jets.

rocel@khaleejtimes.com