Dassault Aviation has blamed the twin pressures of a still-troubled supply chain and the uncertainty caused by potential US tariffs for the sluggish first-half performance of its Falcon business jet family.
During the first six months of 2025, Dassault booked “weak orders” for just eight units, versus 11 in the same period of 2024, while deliveries were flat year-on-year at 12 aircraft.
Disclosing the sluggish performance on 22 July, Chief executive Eric Trappier said the “tariff impact” – which make its Falcon jets much less competitive in the critical US market, particularly against than those of rival Gulfstream – and “difficulties in the supply chain” were “impacting sales”.
The French airframer’s full-year guidance is for deliveries of around 40 Falcon jets and Trappier says if meets that target “in the current challenging context” he “would be a happy CEO”.
“40 aircraft would be a good profile, but we can support the company with fewer deliveries if we deliver more Rafale [fighters].”
However, the guidance includes a disclaimer that it “does not take into account US tariffs and potential European countermeasures”. Washington, DC is set to impose tariffs of 30% on European imports from 1 August.
While Trappier is hopeful an agreement can be reached with the USA to return aerospace products to a zero-rated tariff regime, he warns that “nothing is certain”.
He points out that European companies are already less competitive than their US peers and “our competitiveness will deteriorate even further if we have to withstand additional customs tariffs”.
“If we have to contend with tariffs of 10, 15, 20% it means we can no longer operate in the US market,” he warns.
Dassault completes Falcon interiors at a facility in Little Rock, Arkansas, lessening the tariff exposure slightly, but Trappier notes that any level of import tax will be burden.
“We are going to feel the impact and the final price tag will be increased and it will put us in a difficult position,” he says.
Noting that the Russian market is already out of bounds due to ongoing sanctions due to the invasion of Ukraine, Trappier adds: “If we can’t trade with the US anymore things are going to get really tough for us.”
Against this uncertain backdrop, Dassault continues to wrestle with persistent supply chain challenges.
This includes contractors that are late delivering components to Dassault’s production lines “and others who are having difficulty to survive” and are forced into restructuring or new ownership through the commercial courts.
“We are still facing these cases, although they are fewer, fortunately,” says Trappier.
“We are all saying we have seen the back of the Covid pandemic [impact] but not entirely: we should expect additional disruption over the next year or two.”
Meanwhile, deliveries of the Falcon 6X continue to increase, with the in-service fleet receiving “excellent customer feedback”.
Although declining to provide an exact figure, Trappier says the 6X accounted for around half of all Falcon deliveries in the first six months of the year.
