French business jet maker looks to China for growth

Dassault Falcon aims to sell 20 business jets in China in 2012, accounting for 25 percent of the company's annual global sales.

"China will be the biggest market of our company," said Jean Michael-Jacob, vice president of Dassault Falcon, owned by the fighter jet Rafale's maker Dassault Aviation.

As the second largest economy in the world, China's demand for business jets will explode in the coming years, he said, "China will have at least 500 business jets in five years, and we plan to take 35 percent of this market."

The French company sold 15 jets in China, each for between 30 to 50 million U.S. dollars, within a year after moving its Asia office from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in December 2010.

The current China market is comparatively small with only 150 business jets in use, when the United States has around 7,000.

Michael-Jacob said Falcon accounts for only 10 percent of the current China market. The biggest business jets seller in China is Gulfstream from the United States, which currently has over 60 percent market share.

"The China market will grow in the coming years," he said. By 2020, China will have 1,000 business jets and Falcon aims to have taken 35 percent of its market by then.

Since it first produced the Falcon in 1963, the company has delivered over 2,000 Falcons in more than 67 countries, taking 40 percent of the global business jet market.

But since the global financial crisis, its global sales have stagnated. "The future is in China," Michael-Jacob said.