Dassault on Monday launched its new Falcon 2000LX at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE). The next evolution of its bestselling 2000 family, the 2000LX can fly an extra 200 nm — and up to 4,000 nm at Mach .80 — while climbing to FL410 in 18 minutes. Working with U.S.-based Aviation Partners (API), the French airframer added winglets, which reduce drag by up to 5%, thus increasing range and cutting fuel consumption. Designed to stretch potential city pairs, customers can travel comfortably between Paris and New York. The aircraft can also connect New York- Moscow, Paris-Delhi and Hong Kong-Brisbane. Powered by the same PW308C engines as the 2000EX, the 2000LX comes standard with the same EASy flight deck and spacious cabin as its predecessor. In terms of range, the new Falcon sits comfortably between the 2000DX at 3,250 nm and the freshly certificated 7X, which can fly for 5,950 nm.
The range increase gives our customers more capability and more efficiency on longer trips and they will surely enjoy seeing their fuel consumption numbers drop, says John Rosanvallon, Dassault Falcon Jets president and CEO. Thanks to the advanced blended winglet design from Aviation Partners, our fuel efficiency advantage over the competition will continue to grow. Dassault will take charge of new production aircraft, while API is responsible for sales and marketing of retrofits for the 2000 series, which will begin shortly after certification and take place at Dassaults facilities in Le Bourget and Wilmington. The two companies may add winglets to the Falcon 900 family and API also plans to offer retrofits for the Falcon 50. Weve never designed a winglet before that performs so well, so high into the drag rise, says Joe Clark, chairman and CEO of API. Certification is due in the last quarter of 2007 and the 2000LX will replace the 2000EX for 2010 deliveries. Until then, customers can opt to add the winglets for an extra $500,000.
