Paris-based Dassault Aviation, which owns a completion center at Little Rock's Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, said Wednesday that it is canceling development of its newest aircraft, the long-range Falcon 5X.
At the Dassault Falcon Jet center in Little Rock, custom interiors are installed and exteriors are painted. Dassault has employed as many as 1,800 people at the facility.
There had been a three-year delay in building the business jet because of technical problems Dassault had with its French-supplied Safran Silvercrest engines.
Dassault vowed to start over with a new jet powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada engines, featuring the same cabin cross section of the 5X.
Pratt & Whitney is a subsidiary of U.S.-based United Technologies.
Safran recently disclosed another delay in development of the Silvercrest, making the 2020 entry into service of the aircraft impossible, leading to as many as 12 cancellations last year as customers' patience ran out.
Analysts have said that the Falcon 5X was not seen as a major contributor to revenue for Safran.
Dassault announced that the new jet is scheduled to enter the market in 2022. That announcement followed a news release by Safran noting that it expected Dassault to begin the process of canceling the Silvercrest engine contract.
The first Silvercrest engines were originally planned to be delivered to Dassault for 5X testing by the end of 2013, but technical problems delayed that timeline.
"Considering the magnitude of the risks involved both on the technical and schedule aspects of the Silvercrest program, Dassault Aviation initiates the termination of the Silvercrest contract leading to the end of the Falcon 5X program," Dassault said in the news release.
"There is still a strong market need for a brand new long-range aircraft with a very large cabin," Eric Trappier, Dassault's chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement.
Safran said it planned no further provisions after taking a $720 million noncash charge for the delays early last year.
The first Falcon 5X, which made its maiden flight in July using prototype Silvercrest engines, was last flown on Dec. 6, according to tracking website Flightradar24.com.
Business on 12/14/2017