Saint Cloud, France, October 27, 2009) – The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) recently honored Serge Dassault with the prestigious Meritorious Service to Aviation Award. The presentation was made at the 2009 NBAA Convention in Orlando, Florida.
The Award for Meritorious Service to Aviation is NBAA's most distinguished honor, and recognizes extraordinary lifelong professional contributions to aviation. Serge Dassault joins a small group of award recipients that are credited with building business aviation from the ground up.
“Serge Dassault is without question one of the most innovative leaders in business aviation, and NBAA is honored to present him with our Association’s highest honor,” said Ed Bolen, NBAA President and CEO. “We congratulate and thank Serge for his many years of dedication to business aviation.”
Accepting the award on behalf of his father, Olivier Dassault said, “I would like to thank the NBAA Board of Directors for selecting my father to receive this prestigious award. We are deeply honored and would like to share the credit with Charles Edelstenne, John Rosanvallon and all the members of the Dassault Falcon team that work very hard every day to keep the Falcon fleet flying all over the world.”
He noted that his father attended his first NBAA convention in 1962 when the Mystère 20, later named the Falcon 20, was still in its infancy. The following year, a full scale mockup of the airplane was exhibited at the convention held in Houston; Texas. Serge Dassault has attended virtually every NBAA convention since.
Serge Dassault, the son of Dassault Aviation founder Marcel Dassault worked his way up through the company and in 1986 became Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation. Under his leadership numerous successful programs, such as the Falcon 2000, and Rafale took shape confirming Dassault as one of the world leaders in both the civilian and the defense aviation industry.
Dassault Falcon is responsible for selling and supporting Falcon business jets throughout the world. It is part of Dassault Aviation, a leading aerospace company with a presence in over 70 countries across five continents. Dassault Aviation produces the Rafale fighter jet as well as the complete line of Falcon business jets. The company has assembly and production plants in both France and the United States and service facilities on multiple continents. It employs a total workforce of over 12,000. Since the rollout of the first Falcon 20 in 1963, 2000 Falcon jets have been delivered to 67 countries worldwide. The family of Falcon jets currently in production includes the tri-jets — the Falcon 900DX, 900LX, and the 7X — as well as the twin-engine Falcon 2000DX and 2000LX.
