Business Aviation News

Supply Chain Issues Delay Falcon 6X EIS

Supply Chain Issues Delay Falcon 6X EIS

Dassault’s CEO Eric Trappier says that supply chain issues brought about by COVID-19 and the conflict in Ukraine have “overwhelmed” the OEM’s engineering and production teams and have caused the entry in service of the firm’s new USD$47 million Falcon 6X to slide into 2023.

Trappier made the remarks during Dassault’s European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) press conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

“Despite our intense efforts, the supply chain issues I mentioned earlier, linked to the successive waves of the Covid epidemic–the latest being last February—have ended up overwhelming our engineering and production teams and impacting the 6X development and manufacturing timetable.” Said Trappier.

Dassault had been targeting certification and entry into service of the Falcon 6X before the end of 2022, however, this will now happen in ‘mid-2023’.

“Consequently, our anticipated year-end 2022 target for the entry into service of the aircraft is shifting and is now forecast for mid-year 2023. This is a few months later than initially anticipated. But given the immense challenges, we and our partners have faced these last two years, it remains relatively modest.”

Dassault is displaying the fourth Falcon 6X to be built at the EBACE show. It is the first aircraft to have a full interior.

In June the aircraft will depart for a worldwide proving tour, which Dassault says will test the aircraft’s ability to operate in different environments.

INDUSTRY REPORTS