Comment: Pandemic Drives Demand for Business Aviation

Business aviation, for example, was used to transport much-needed supplies and medical workers. 

In France, Dassault Aviation worked with non-government organisation Aviation Sans Frontières to transport doctors and nurses in the fight against COVID-19. The French government, which has Dassault Falcon aircraft in its fleet, used its and customers’ Falcons to transport vaccines quickly to remote areas. We even had one Falcon customer fly in ventilators to Europe from Taiwan onboard their Falcon and then distributed the ventilators for free to hospitals in Europe. 

As a mode of passenger transport, business aviation worldwide – including in Australia and New Zealand – has been winning over ‘first-class’ passengers throughout the pandemic. 

Dassault Aviation sold aircraft last year to businesspeople who had never owned a business jet before. Because they needed an aircraft quickly, many opted for pre-owned business jets. Having the business jet gave them the freedom to fly. 

The pandemic inadvertently highlighted another key benefit of business aviation, which is that you have more control over who enters the aircraft and control over what happens inside the passenger cabin. Some businesspeople no longer feel comfortable travelling on a commercial aircraft where they will come in contact with many people. 

The fact that pre-owned business jets have been so popular with buyers in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere in the world means there is now a shortage of preowned aircraft available for sale. We are seeing this demand feed through to the new aircraft market. 

As in New Zealand, Australian buyers need long-range aircraft such as the Falcon 7X and Falcon 8X, which can fly 5,950 and 6,450 nautical miles respectively. Australian and New Zealand customers also need an aircraft with short take-off and landing capability to access some regional airports and secondary airports close to metropolitan city centres. 

As for the year ahead, we anticipate another strong year. In fact, demand for new aircraft may be stronger because of the ongoing shortage of pre-owned aircraft available for sale. 

Dassault Aviation has two new aircraft in development; the Falcon 6X, which will be certified towards end of this year, and the Falcon 10X, which is due to be certified in 2025. Both have the largest cabin cross-sections in their respective segments. In fact, the 10X has the largest cabin of any purpose-built business jet. These two jets are clean-sheet designs with many advanced features, including the most advanced versions of Dassault’s digital flight control (flyby-wire) system. 

New technology and new capabilities are helping to generate interest and stimulate business jet demand. The Rolls-Royce powered 10X has 7,500 nautical mile range, enough to fly nonstop from Sydney to anywhere on the west coast of the US. The 10X cabin is 2.03 metres tall and 2.77 metres wide – a comfortable ride, indeed. 

With aircraft like these taking to the skies, we see bright prospects for business aviation.