Dassault Falcon opens China branch

BEIJING - French jet maker Dassault Falcon on Wednesday announced that it has opened a subsidiary company in Beijing to boost the company's presence in China.

Jean Michel Jacob, general manager of Dassault Falcon Business Services (Beijing) Co Ltd, made the announcement at the 9th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong province.

"The branch allows us to provide a high-level of service to our clients in the growing Chinese aviation market," said Jean Rosanvallon, president and CEO of Dassault Falcon.

He said the company planned to open a customer service regional headquarters under its China branch in the first half of 2013 to cater to its Chinese clients.

Dassault Falcon, a subsidiary of the Paris-based Dassault Aviation company, said it planned to have 25 jets operating in China by the end of 2013. There are currently 12 in use in the country.

The Chinese market as a whole has 200 jets in service.

"We only sold one new Falcon jet in China in 2006, but now the country has become the biggest market for our new aircraft orders and is the most promising one," he said.

He added that there are 7,000 Falcon jets in the US. But with the Chinese market gradually opening up to general aviation, the potential market is huge.

"By 2020, China will have 1,000 business jets and the company wishes to increase its share in the Chinese market to roughly its global level," said Jacob.