Dassault Aviation has opened a new company-owned service centre at New York's Long Island MacArthur airport in Islip. The facility will initially accommodate up to five or six aircraft and provide scheduled maintenance, AOG support and pre-purchase evaluations. The service centre will be less than one hour's flight time to 20 per cent of the US-based Falcon fleet and will have quick access to technical staff and parts supply at Dassault Falcon Jet's Teterboro headquarters.

Dassault has also been adding service capacity in other locations in the US, including Little Rock, Arkansas; St Louis, Missouri; Stuart, Florida; and Reno, Nevada. New enhancements in Reno include an additional maintenance bay, improved customer amenities, more efficient work areas and new staff additions. Heather Mirra has been appointed Reno's new general manager, bringing exceptional knowledge of the entire service network due to her previous position as director of network supply chain, planning and scheduling.

This regional realignment of resources is intended to offset the recent closure of one of Dassault's earliest service sites in Wilmington, Delaware. Upgrading that location for an expanding fleet and the larger 6X and 10X aircraft was not deemed feasible. Dassault Aircraft Services has worked closely with regular Wilmington customers in recent months to help them identify good service alternatives.

"Our planning for new aircraft and new service capabilities continues," says Jean Kayanakis, SVP worldwide Falcon customer service and service centre network. "Customers can expect to hear about new capacity coming online as new models like the Falcon 6X near their service entry dates."