The Commonwealth of Australia has taken delivery of the first of three very long range Falcon 7X trijets it has acquired from Dassault Aviation to be operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) for government VIP service. The other two aircraft will be handed over in the following months.
The VIP units are being delivered with the latest connectivity solutions, intended to provide seamless access to high-speed broadband data anywhere in the world. “We are extremely honored that Australia has once again demonstrated its confidence in the Falcon product line,” said Eric Trappier, Chairman & CEO of Dassault Aviation. “The RAAF already has decades of successful experience operating Dassault aircraft, from the Mirage III fighter to the Falcon 20 and Falcon 900 business jets.”
The Falcon 7X offers a combination of range and operational flexibility that no other large-cabin business jet can match. The 5,950 nm / 11,000 km 7X can fly from Canberra to any point in Asia nonstop, or link Canberra to Washington or London in one hop. It can land on short and challenging runways and operate across a wide range of environmental conditions, including extremely hot, humid and dry desert climates. The aircraft’s three-engine design provides additional safety margin, freeing operators from twin-engine operating constraints when flying intercontinental, transoceanic routes.
The 7X has enjoyed immense popularity since its introduction more than a decade ago. More than 280 of the large trijets have been delivered worldwide.
Australia has been a key Falcon market for almost half a century. The company’s first business jet, the Falcon 20, entered commercial service ‘Down Under’ in 1967, two years after its global entry into service. The Falcon 20 entered the inventory of the RAAF the same year (under the name Mystère 20) and served in the RAAF’s transport and utility wing for 22 years before being replaced by the Falcon 900. The five-aircraft Falcon 900 fleet remained in operation through the early 2000s.
More than 120 Falcon aircraft, including over 50 Falcon 7Xs, are currently flying with public and private operators in Australia and other Asia-Pacific countries.
