Facility Will Add Almost 100 New Jobs

On Tuesday, Dassault Aircraft Services told ANN of expansion plans for the company's Little Rock Service Center, that will double the service square footage when the project in complete near the end of 2008.

Nearly 100 jobs will be added over the next three years as a result of this expansion with a majority of the jobs being aircraft maintenance technicians and craftsmen.

"Over one year ago, I announced that Dassault is committed to reaching the premier level of customer service in business aviation," said Charles Edelstenne, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation. "This initiative demonstrates that Dassault is continuing to make significant investments to achieve that goal."

The nearly $10 million project will break ground in the third quarter of 2007 and will be complete in the fourth quarter of 2008. The new hangar will be able to accommodate up to six additional aircraft and will feature new 'back shop' capacity. The back shops will handle light refurbishments of aircraft interiors and structures, a task that was previously handled by the Completion Center.

The new hangar will be located next to the existing Service Center.

"Over the past several years, the historic demand for Falcons has required Dassault to continuously grow and improve our Service Center network," said John Rosanvallon, President and CEO of Dassault Falcon. "And with the Falcon 7X now in service, we expect increased demand on our factory owned Service Centers which operators have come to rely on their in-depth knowledge of Falcons."

The Dassault Falcon service network consists of 28 worldwide maintenance centers including three company owned facilities in Little Rock, AR; Wilmington, DE and Le Bourget (Paris), France.

FMI: www.dassaultfalcon.com