Dassault Aviation has confirmed that its ultra-long-range Falcon 10X business jet will now make its maiden sortie in 2026, with three flight-test aircraft now structurally complete.
In the meantime, the French airframer continues to add new features and ramp-up output on its wide-cabin Falcon 6X; “20-plus” examples are now delivered, says Carlos Brana, executive vice-president civil aircraft.
Brana says Dassault “had the objective” to fly the Falcon 10X in 2025 but concedes it was “a little ambitious”.
“We prefer to do it safely next year,” he tells FlightGlobal.
A trio of Falcon 10X test aircraft are structurally complete and the airframer has received the Rolls-Royce Pearl 10X engines for all three jets, he says.
Service entry for the 7,500nm (13,900km)-range Falcon 10X is scheduled for late 2027, leaving a narrowing window in which to achieve certification.
Brana says it has no current plans to revise the schedule but stresses that “what really matters is to have a safe airplane”.
Dassault has already delayed the Falcon 10X’s service-entry target, in early 2024 pushing back the milestone from end-2025.
Once certificated, the Falcon 10X will take over as Dassault’s flagship from the 6X, an aircraft that entered service in late 2023.
Brana, speaking to FlightGlobal at the Dubai air show where it had a customer Falcon 6X on the static display, said the in-service fleet of “20-plus” aircraft had now flown more than 5,000h and “the feedback is very good”.
Passengers love the width and quietness of the cabin, he says, while pilots “tell us the handling of the airplane is exceptional”.
With steep-approach certification obtained earlier this year, Dassault is now working to gain approval for operation from high-altitude airports, expanding on the Falcon 6X’s current 9,000ft limit.
Testing was performed this year at La Paz airport in Bolivia, which sits at 13,300ft elevation, with “no particular issues”, he says: “Everything seems on track to complete the certification.”
In addition, contaminated runway performance is also being increased.
Output of the Falcon 6X also continues to ramp-up, partly aided by improvements to the supply chain which had previously hindered production.
“We saw a lot of improvements compared to what we used to see,” he says. Although parts are still sometimes missing at the final assembly line “it is minor stuff and generally we manage that smoothly”.
Brana says the large cabins on the Falcon 6X and 10X are key features for the Middle East market. However, he declines to say if customers from the region have already placed orders for the latter.
