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.
