Dassault Aviation now has two Falcon 10X test aircraft flying. The company flew the second prototype, serial number 2 and registered F-WTEN, on a maiden flight that lasted about three hours, Air Data News reported on 5 October. AIN reports that the second aircraft first took off from Merignac, in France, on 24 September. Dassault has also moved the date it expects the jet to enter service to 2029.
The first Falcon 10X flew on 19 June 2026, according to Business Jet Traveler. A third aircraft, with a fully equipped cabin, is due to join the test programme later, Air Data News said. That puts about three months between the first aircraft's flight and the second's. The third aircraft's fully equipped cabin matters because it is the one that will show how the interior performs in flight.
A date that keeps moving
The Falcon 10X was unveiled in 2021 with a target of entering service in 2025. That date later moved to 2027, and Dassault now expects 2029. For a buyer who ordered the aircraft years ago, the gap between the first promise and the new one is four years.
Eric Trappier, Dassault's chief executive, expects certification to take about two and a half years from the start of flight testing, Air Data News reported. Business Jet Traveler quotes him tying the delay to stricter certification rules since the Boeing 737 Max accidents, saying that certification has become a more complicated matter since those accidents. He also told the outlet that the bulk of the work was behind the company, even though a lot of engineering and certification remained to come.
What the jet promises
The aircraft is built around two numbers. Range is 7,500 nautical miles, or 13,890 kilometres, and the top speed is Mach 0.925, a little under the speed of sound. Two Rolls-Royce Pearl 10X engines supply the power, each producing more than 18,000 lb of thrust, according to Business Jet Traveler. The avionics suite is called NeXus and was developed with Honeywell.
Air Data News describes the Falcon 10X as having the largest cabin cross-section of any purpose-built business jet in development, together with a new composite wing, built from layered fibre materials rather than metal alone. It names the Gulfstream G700 and the Bombardier Global 7500 as the aircraft it competes with.
Range, in plain words, is how far the aircraft can fly without stopping to refuel. Cabin cross-section is how wide and tall the cabin is where passengers sit. Together the two figures define the class of jet that the 10X belongs to.
Why the wait matters
In the segment of ultra-long-range jets, a delay of two years is a long time to ask a buyer to wait. Owners who plan to replace a current aircraft may have to decide whether to keep flying it longer, lease another jet in the meantime or look at a competitor that is already in service.
Dassault's own message, as Trappier put it, is that the bulk of the work is behind the company. It is flying two prototypes and expects a third to join them. The timetable he gave, about two and a half years of certification work from the start of flight testing, is the yardstick by which the new 2029 date will be judged.
The view from the Gulf
The sources do not discuss the Gulf. The reasoning for readers here is general. Ultra-long-range jets are the aircraft that owners compare when they want to fly very long distances without a stop, and the Falcon 10X's range figure of 7,500 nautical miles is the number to weigh against rivals. Anyone considering the aircraft would need to check that figure against the routes they actually fly, using the manufacturer's own range data.
The Falcon range is built in France, and the 10X is the flagship above the Falcon 8X and the Falcon 6X.
What comes next
The next public chance to see the industry's reaction is NBAA-BACE, the main business aviation show in the United States, which is scheduled for 20 to 22 October 2026 in Las Vegas. AIN reported on 3 September that Dassault is among the manufacturers committed to the static display, where aircraft are shown on the ground.
The tests will carry on in the months ahead, with a third aircraft joining the programme. For buyers, the date to watch is no longer 2027. It is 2029, and Dassault says the hardest part of the work lies behind it.
Sources: Air Data News, AIN, Business Jet Traveler, AIN