Business aviation IntervIew
http://www.sps-aviation.com ISSUE 4 • 2018 23Vadim Feldzer, the Head of Global Communications at Dassault tells Arpita Kala of
SP’s Aviation during Wings India ‘18, all about the fate of Falcon 5X and busts mythsabout Dassault’s mysterious new aircraft. And about 6X, 7X and 8X.
Rafale fighter jets and Falcon 8X may just be the hot
topic of the month, but Dassault Aviation’s India connect dates
back to the era of Mirage 2000. “The truth is that Dassault Avia-
tion has had a relationship with India long before Gulfstream was
even born. We started our friendship in India in 1985 by deliver-
ing Mirage aircraft to the Indian Air Force. So, it’s a long term
relationship between our company and your government,” says
the company’s head of global communications, Vadim Feldzer.
And if you noticed the subtle shade towards their competi-
tor, it’s all in good faith. As Feldzer says, “They have a good
aircraft, but it’s all about what you can offer differently to the
customer.” Showcasing their ultra long range Falcon 8X at the
recently concluded aviation expo in Hyderabad, where the
Gulfstream G650ER was on display too, Vadim spoke to us
about the unexpected demise of Falcon 5X and the question
on everyone’s mind – what’s the difference between between
Falcon 6X, 7X and 8X.SP’s Aviation (SP’s): What exactly happened with Falcon 5X?
Vadim Feldzer (Feldzer): It’s very frustrating but very easy to
understand. We launched Falcon 5X back in 2013 at NBAA’s
Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition in Las Vegas. The 5X
was created after we looked very carefully at the needs of the
customers worldwide and found that the trend was definitively
for a larger cabin. And, for the 5,000 nautical miles segment,
there was no innovation to fulfill this demand in the market.
Gulfstream came with G650, a very cool aircraft, but nobody
really came up with a fresh product. So, we decided to come
up with 5X and to bring the biggest cabin in this segment with
the traditional flexibility, which is the DNA of the Falcon brand.
To produce this aircraft, we partnered with Safran engines
because they came up with a product (Silvercrest) that on paper
was the best engine in the market in this category. So, we trusted
Safran and designed our aircraft based on the Silvercrest pro-
posal while Safran also adapted the engine to our latest Falcon.Falcon 8X
is better
uPcoming member of falcon family: falcon 6X is designed for eXtraordinary efficiency at any speedphotograph: dassault falcon