Dassault has opened a new maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at its Bordeaux-Mérignac base in southwest France, which will service its fleet of high-end Falcon business jets.
The 49,000m2 (527,000ft2) building is next to the airframer’s Falcon final assembly facility, and will be able to accommodate up to six business jets at a time.
“This additional capacity will permit Dassault Falcon Service to keep up with the steady growth in the Falcon fleet, which currently numbers 2,100 aircraft worldwide,” says Dassault chief executive Éric Trapper. “It is is expected to expand significantly with the arrival of the Falcon 8X, deliveries of which began last month,” he adds, referring to the 5 October handover of the flagship ultra-long-range type to Greek operator and long-time Falcon owner Amjet Executive.
Dassault says the “immediate priority" of the new facility will be to cater for the planned ramp-up of scheduled heavy maintenance work – known as C-checks – on early 7X models. “More than 250 7Xs are now in operation,” Dassault says. “The fleet leaders are now approaching their first heavy maintenance check, scheduled once an aircraft reaches eight years of service.”
Mérignac is the fourth Dassault-owned service centre to offer heavy maintenance. The others are in Le Bourget, France; Little Rock, Arkansas – also home to a Falcon completion centre; and Wilmington, Delaware.
Source: Flight International
