(Recasts, adds details)
By Tim Hepher and Allison Lampert
PARIS, May 6 (Reuters) - Dassault Aviation
launched a new long-range "flying penthouse" on Thursday in a
bid to challenge rivals serving the ultra-wealthy and heads of
state at the top end of the luxury jet market.
The Falcon 10X will be the French planemaker's most powerful
model, with a range of 7,500 nautical miles (13,890 km), and
compete with high-end models offered by Canada's Bombardier
and General Dynamics unit Gulfstream.
It will enter service in late 2025 and - in a first for a
commercial jet - come equipped with Rolls-Royce Pearl
engines designed to run entirely on sustainable aviation fuel,
Dassault said.
It is also the first time Rolls-Royce has been picked to
power any jet from Dassault, which had fallen out with France's
Safran over a previous engine development problem.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic and chronic volatility in
demand for smaller business jets, the market for the industry's
largest models has been propelled by the rising wealth of Asia.
Health has risen to the top of concerns of the targeted
elite, alongside security and privacy.
"All the executives of the companies, the VIPs, they want to
travel in a very safe way. They want to save time. And business
aviation is really the answer," Dassault Aviation Chief
Executive Eric Trappier said in a webcast.
"Vaccines should be the solution in order to smooth down the
effects of such a virus. But we have to know we will have to
live a long time with viruses, whether COVID-19 or another. So
it's also good to have a business jet in order to fly safely."
Dassault's gamble drew a rapid riposte from rival
Bombardier, whose best-selling 19-seat Global 7500 sells for the
same price: $75 million in today's dollars.
"We're going to have even more (order) backlog and more
airplanes in service," Chief Executive Eric Martel said.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher and Allison Lampert; Editing by Pravin
Char)
Rolls-Royce (RR.)
