Dassault Aviation looking forward to expanding in Malaysia

LANGKAWI: Dassault Aviation is upbeat on growing its business presence in Malaysia, driven by a conducive environment in the Asia Pacific region.

Dassault Aviation Asia Pacific president Jean-Michel Jacob said there were pockets of opportunities for the company to flourish as the region’s economy continued to grow rapidly.

“There is no doubt that there is a market in Asia Pacific for at least one reason — the economy is developing despite the looming uncertainty in China, particularly the trade war,” he told the New Sunday Times at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima) 2019.

Jacob said Asia Pacific’s economy was developing as big corporations require business jets to grow their businesses abroad to promote products and services.

“This is a good reason for our business. In fact, the ratio of aircraft to population is still low in the region, compared with North America.”

Jacob said although there were many business jets in Asia, there were not as many compared with North America or Europe.

Dassault Aviation sales director in Malaysia Didier Raynard agreed, saying this was one reason there is was big potential.

Dassault Aviation had delivered over 50 Falcon 7x aircraft in the Asia Pacific region, with 10 currently operating in Malaysia.

“In total we have over 125 Falcons in Asia Pacific, including 8x, 7x, Falcon50, Falcon2000, Falcon900.”

Jacob said Malaysia was an important hub for the company’s maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities.

Dassault Aviation had recently acquired ExecuJet Malaysia’s MRO facility at the Subang Airport in Kuala Lumpur to support its aftermarket capabilities in Southeast Asia.

“The MRO certainly will receive plenty of Falcons from different places in the region, mainly from China, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Australia.”

Jacob said the facility was able to support Bombardier and Gulfstream aircraft, and hoped it would continue supporting the aftersales service in the long term.

“We are adding the Falcon capability on top of our competitor aircraft. We have about 60 staff for the facility and with the arrival of Falcon, it has to grow even more.”

The new MRO acquisition would strengthen Dassault Aviation’s global footprint, particularly in Asia Pacific, Oceania, the Middle East and Africa.

Dassault Aviation chief executive officer and chairman Eric Trappier said the company would continue developing its highquality customer support network, while growing its Falcon market share.

Under Dassault ownership, ExecuJet MRO Services will maintain its separate identity and leadership team, and continue serving aircraft of all types.

The network includes operations in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, as well as the Asia Pacific region.

The 64,000 sq ft facility is the largest business aviation MRO in Malaysia and supports aircraft from different manufacturers, based within and outside the region.

ExecuJet Malaysia will also provide Falcon customers a choice of service facilities, and complements Dassault’s existing support network in the region, including authorised third-party service centres and a regional sales office in Kuala Lumpur.