The Dassault Falcon 8X has made its debut appearance at the annual ABACE show.
The aircraft on display, bearing registration F-WWQC, is the third Falcon 8X produced. It has a full cabin installed and is in Shanghai as part of a world tour prior to its service entry later in 2016.
So far, the Falcon 8X has just one buyer in China. Dassault Falcon China general manager Jean Michel Jacob, however, says Chinese customers prefer to see a jet before making a decision, hence the company made a big push to bring the aircraft to the show despite the type's ongoing testing campaign.
Greg Waldron
"It was hard to get the aircraft from testing, but we have very high expectations for the 8X in China," he says.
Jacob believes that the 8X, which Dassault Falcon says can connect city pairs such as Shangai-Chicago, is well suited to the China market, which prefers long-range, large-cabin private jets.
Dassault says that technicians at its customer support centre in Beijing will undertake a one week course on maintenance specific to the Falcon 8X. The support centre will also begin to stock spare parts specific to the 8X.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
