Dassault’s Falcon 7X lagging behind on production schedule

Little Rock, USA: Dassault's top-of-the-line, 5,950-nm, Falcon 7X trijet is falling behind on delivery schedules. Higher-than-planned cabin customization requests have resulted in additional demands for new parts and engineering design work, according to Dassault Falcon president, John Rosanvallon.

The company made its first delivery of the Falcon 7X in late June this year. It had said earlier that it expects to deliver seven aircraft by the end of this year, half the total number of deliveries it had originally projected.

Rosanvallon said that it was keeping its customers informed and also trying hard to catch up. He also said that a ramp-up effort at the production end ought to bring the interior outfitting to the company's ''cruise rate'' of 40 airplanes a year by the end of 2009.

The order book for the Falcon 7X is now approaching 200 aircraft. More than 60 airplanes are in various stages of production and completion.