Dassault Rafale Outsells Falcon Business Jet In 2015

Dassault has recorded more sales of its Rafale fighter jets than the business class Falcon aircraft in 2015.

Dassault has sold 48 Rafale split evenly between Qatar and Egypt whereas it won orders for 45 Falcon corporate jets in 2015.

The order for Falcons in 2015 was half that of the previous year’s total, Dassault said earlier this month. The last tally was just 25 planes after the cancellation of a contract for 20 Falcons placed by NetJets Inc. 55 Aircraft were delivered in 2014.

Sales were impacted by the economic environment, “especially in emerging countries,” Dassault was quoted as saying by Bloomberg news on its website. Some 55 new Falcons were delivered, 10 fewer than anticipated, it said, reflecting “the weakening of the order intake.”

While the Falcon backlog had shrunk to 91 planes as of Dec. 31, down 30 from a year earlier, the Rafale has 83 unfilled contracts, up 40.