NetJets Europe begins Falcon 7X fleet disposal

NetJets Europe, the European operating division of Berkshire Hathaway’s fractional aircraft operator NetJets, has begun disposing of its Dassault Falcon 7X fleet.

The Falcon 7X sat between the Gulfstream G550s and Dassault Falcon 2000EXs in the NetJets Europe fleet as a 14 seat aircraft that could fly up to 10,391 km. NetJets Europe operated four Falcon 7Xs.

Although the main NetJets operating fleet currently includes a mixture of 34 Dassault Falcon 2000s & Falcon 2000EXs, the Falcon 7X never made it into the US fleet.

Following delivery of the Falcon 7Xs NetJets Europe also began adding Bombardier Global 6000s to the fleet, with NetJets Europe operating four aircraft by the end of December 2014.

NetJets added its first Falcon 7X in 2008 when they took delivery of msn 30 / CS-DSA direct from Dassault. The last aircraft to join the fleet, msn 92 / CS-DSD was purchased as a pre-owned aircraft, having been previous operated in Saudi Arabia.

As of early January 2015 two of the four aircraft have left the fleet already, with CS-DSA has joining the Global Jet Luxembourg fleet registered as LX-DSA. Falcon 7X serial number 164 / CS-DSC has been transferred from the NetJets Europe fleet to the Executive Jet Management (Europe) fleet, suggesting that EJM will be managing the aircraft on behalf of an owner who has purchased the whole aircraft.

In addition to the two aircraft already sold on, a third aircraft, msn 43 / CS-DSB, currently appears on several online aircraft sales websites as being advertised for sale. The aircraft, built in 2008 is advertised as having flown for 4,081 hours over 3,068 cycles.

In the NetJets Europe fleet the Falcon 7X could be seen as the forerunner for the signature series as pilot and noted architect Lord Norman Foster designed the aircraft’s interior.

Lord Foster also took the opportunity to replace the familiar NetJets red and black pinstripe exterior paint scheme with a more modern black band that stretched from the cockpit to the tail of the aircraft.

In a statement e-mailed to Corporate Jet Investor, NetJets Europe said: “We have been consolidating the number of Falcon 7X’s operated by NetJets Europe as part of our ongoing investment in, and refresh of, our fleet. We think that for our core fractional business in Europe, the long range aircraft for the future is the Global 6000 Signature Series.

“NetJets Europe will however, continue to operate the Falcon 7X in the future. For example, Executive Jet Management Europe (EJME), the aircraft management arm of our European business, have just added a number of 7X’s to their fleet over the past year. Indeed the 7X is one of the most popular aircraft operated by EJME.”