Dassault Falcon Sees Potentials To Grow Market In Malaysia

By Farhana Poniman KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 (Bernama) -- Private jet manufacturer, Dassault Falcon, sees potentials to grow its market in Malaysia by exploring niche opportunities such as the medical evacuation (medevac) segment. Dassault Falcon Asia-Pacific President, Jean-Michel Jacob, said there were a lot of projects in Malaysia to increase medical tourism and cater to the South-East Asian market. "Some medevac operators in South-East Asia are operating medevac aircraft that are much older and smaller. "There is an opportunity for medevac operators to be market leaders in this segment by operating Dassault Falcon jets, a newer aircraft renowned for safety and comfort," he told Bernama. Jacob said Malaysia was the fourth largest business jet market in South-East Asia and the country was well-positioned to increase its ranking considering its good facilities for business jet operators. He said Malaysia was one of the few countries in Asia that has a city airport largely dedicated to business aviation with plenty of landing slots, parking and hangars. Currently, Dassault Falcon has sold over 12 business jets to corporations in Malaysia. "I am optimistic about this year, particularly for the market in South-East Asia, including Malaysia. "In the past, South-East Asia represented 25-30 per cent of our sales in Asia, but more recently we have seen it increase to 50 per cent," he said. Moving forward, he said, Dassault Falcon expected to ramp up sales with the introduction of its new aircraft, the Falcon 8X, which could fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to London, representing the latest and best in terms of technology and comfort. The introduction of the new aircraft was timely given that the trend now was that customers were stepping up to larger and longer-range aircraft, he said. "We are getting positive response from prospective customers when we showed them the new model. A lot of business jet owners were also considering to sell their current aircraft and trade up to the 8X," he said. --BERNAMA