Dassault Falcon Service has announced plans to build a heavy maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport in southwestern France. The 77,500-sq-ft facility will be built on a parcel of land adjacent to the Dassault Aviation manufacturing plant and will serve Falcon 7X, 8X and 5X operators. It will complement DFS's existing MRO installations at Le Bourget Airport near Paris.

The new facility, capable of accommodating six aircraft, is expected to start operations in mid-2016, in time to handle initial C Checks for the Falcon 7X, and will eventually employ up to 70 specialists and technicians. More than 230 Falcon 7Xs are in operation and the oldest aircraft in the fleet will begin requiring heavy maintenance by 2016.

The decision to locate the new maintenance facility at Bordeaux-Mérignac was motivated by the large pool of skilled aviation workers and subcontractors in the area and the expertise offered by the nearby Dassault Aviation assembly plant, such as paint shops.