Dassault is making good progress on the development of the** Falcon 5X wide-body twinjet**, which was announced at the National Business Aviation Association’s annual convention last year, and the Falcon 8X, the ultra-long-range bizjet announced at the European Business Aviation Convention and Expo this year.
Company pilots started testing the 5X in a simulator environment about one year ago and expect to fly the first prototype by the second quarter of next year. Dassault announced that the first delivery of the 5X is expected to take place in 2017 and the first customer is from the Middle East, where a full mockup of the airplane’s beautiful interior is now on display at the Middle East Business Aviation (MEBA) convention in Dubai, a three-day show that started yesterday. Dassault said 20 percent of its 5X customers are from the Middle East.
The Falcon 5X is priced around $45 million and will be capable of traveling up to 5,200 nm, enabling the airplane to fly nonstop from Riyadh to Tokyo or Dubai to Cape Town. Learn more about the 5X here.
Dassault also announced it is on track to roll out the first Falcon 8X in the next couple of weeks and hopes to take it to the skies in the early new year. The airplane’s range is expected to span 6,450 nm and is a larger version of the very popular 7X. The $58 million jet is expected to reach its customers in 2016.
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