Dassault Aircraft Services on Tuesday announced expansion plans for its Little Rock (Ark.) Service Center that will double the facility’s square footage when completed later next year. Groundbreaking for the nearly $10 million project will be in the third quarter, and the new hangar will be able to accommodate up to six additional aircraft and will feature a new “back shop” capacity — light refurbishments of aircraft interiors and structures. Meanwhile, on Friday Dassault said it has convened a development team to explore building a company-owned Falcon service center in Brazil that would include full technical support capabilities, maintenance, parts, training and engineering support. The company says no timeline for a final decision has yet been set, but notes that several sites are being considered. Dassault currently has two technical field representatives for South America and Brazil (one is based in Sao Paulo, Brazil) who are available 24/7 to assist South American-based and transient Falcons. In addition, Dassault Falcon and Pratt & Whitney Canada recently positioned a PW308C “bank” engine to Brazil that will be kept at P&WC facility in Sao Paulo. The engine powers the Falcon 2000EX EASy, 2000DX and the future 2000LX.
