Posted on December 6th, 2010
French business jet manufacturer Dassault Falcon sees signs of recovery in the Middle East business aviation market, the company said on the eve of MEBA 2010, which opens tomorrow in Dubai. “The Middle East business environment still remains challenging, but confidence levels appear to be rising,” said Dassault Falcon president and CEO John Rosanvallon. “Dassault has seen much greater demand over the last two quarters of the current financial year, with larger cabin jet sales and prices holding up better than smaller jets.” Currently, there are about 60 Dassault Falcons based in the Middle East. The company sold 14 aircraft in the region in the last two years and has a backlog of 16 to be delivered to regional buyers by 2013. Dassault expects to deliver its 10th 7X in the region this month. In addition to more orders, Dassault noted that the number of hours being flown by business jet operators in the Middle East has been increasing, while the client base is evolving beyond a small group of users to include corporate heads, entrepreneurs and other business leaders. This growth has been enabled by an expansion of business aviation infrastructure, Dassault added. Rosanvallon said other regions are also showing signs of an uptick, “including India, South America and Asia.”
Tags: business aviation, dassault
