COMMENT
ightglobal.com 5-11 June 2018 | Flight International | 7
Serge Dassault’s passing, as any transformation would
be impossible while he remained as chairman of the
group’s activities – which spread from combat aircraft
to business jets and beyond aerospace.
While sales of Falcon-series corporate jets have been
hit by weak demand of late – as well as the demise of
the ill-fated 5X – that has been successfully balanced
by Dassault closing export deals for Rafale fighters with
Egypt, India and Qatar.
This does not look like an indication that those in
charge of Groupe Dassault in the coming years will be
in any hurry to change its corporate model. At this
company, family – and staff – come first. ■F
or the vast majority of people working in, reporting
on or merely interested in the aerospace industry,
Serge Dassault was a seemingly eternal force. That his
death at the age of 93 came as he was working in his
Paris office will come as little surprise to those aware of
his tireless dedication to the company founded by his
equally driven father, Marcel.
An extraordinary exception to the rule in an age of
globalisation and cross-continental consolidation,
Groupe Dassault remains a staunchly privately-owned
empire, with the Dassault family holding more than
60% of its shares.
For many a long year, industry watchers have point-
ed to the changes that could be expected to follow See Obituary PA family affair
Business class
Bombardier’s grip on the top end of the executive jet sector had been seen as under threat
from ambitious rivals and gaps in its lineup. Unveiling two new products changed all thatAdvance2 engine – which always seemed insufficient.
In fact, the real answer had been hiding in plain sight
for months at Bombardier’s flight-test centre in Wichita.
But only the sharpest spotter would have noticed the
subtle difference in the trailing edge of the wing that
gave away the identity of the first Global 6500 testbed:
the new Pearl engines fit into nacelles with exactly the
same design as the Global 6000’s BR.710s.
As Airbus works to finalise a joint venture with
Bombardier that transfers ownership of the CSeries
programme to Europe, the timing of Bombardier’s
EBACE surprise could not have been better.
Its leadership of business aviation’s high-end jet
market now appears as strong as ever, with three new
products due to enter service over the next three years.
Its grip on the middle of the market also looks secure
for now, with the Challenger 350 and 650.
While the fate of its Learjet family is unclear, Bombar-
dier’s business aircraft division may have the resources
and leadership to address that problem after 2021. ■A
nyone who thought the challenge of bringing the
CSeries and the newly-rebranded Global 7500 to
market over the past five years had robbed Bombardier
of competitive pluck in other markets was in for a big
surprise as the EBACE show opened in Geneva.
There, in a shocking display of fait accompli, was
the new Global 6500 – flown unnoticed across the
Atlantic, powered by Rolls-Royce Pearl 15s that
achieved engine certification five months earlier.
In an era when flight tracking sites monitor every
aircraft using a working transponder, it was a remarka-
ble trick to keep the entire programme hidden under a
cloak of absolute secrecy for so long.
Bombardier and R-R had faced lingering questions
almost since the Global 5500 and Global 6500 were
launched in secret six years ago.Bombardier executives were quizzed on how they
intended to respond to the competitive threat to their
Global franchise posed by Gulfstream’s impressive
G500 and G600, launched in 2014. Their accepted
answer was that the company was focused on deliver-
ing the late-running Global 7000 (now 7500).
For R-R, the question was always how it intended to
stay competitive in the business jet market after losing
campaigns to power the Global 7500 to GE Aviation
and the G500 and G600 to Pratt & Whitney Canada. It
said it remained committed to the business jet market
and continued to invest in the next generation See Show Report P12, Feature PNow you see meBombardierThe real answer had been hiding
in plain sight for months at
Bombardier’s flight test centre
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