Dassault Aviation Chairman and CEO Edelstenne at the 2009 Paris Air Show

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you all here today to this major event, the Paris Air Show. Let me take this opportunity to review the situation of the company I consider it my privilege to run.

We could have hoped for more favorable circumstances to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the Air Show, which is still today the foremost and finest showcase of the world’s aerospace industry.

After four years of unprecedented growth in business aviation, our industry is now faced with a profound crisis. Nearly 17,000 jobs have already been lost at manufacturers in both North and South America. Despite a healthy Falcon order book, cancellations and postponements mean that we have to scale down our production rate. For the first quarter alone, we posted a negative balance of -27 orders. There is nothing in the current situation and forecasts to indicate that any significant improvement could be hoped for before the end of the year. We anticipate about 80 deliveries in 2009, but the present climate means that any prediction can only be extremely approximate.

In macro-economic terms, the dollar strengthened in the second half of 2008, from 1.50 to 1.25 against the euro. However, in recent months, the American currency has dropped back and currently stands at about 1.40. We are therefore far from the 1 for 1 parity situation which would place us on an equal footing with our North American competitors.

On a more optimistic note, we are seeing the first signs of stabilization of the pre-owned market. In recent weeks, we have also had slightly more positive contacts with a number of existing and potential customers, but nothing has as yet been confirmed.

With regard to Defense activities, the picture is somewhat brighter. In France, the White Paper ratified the principle of a force of 300 French fighter aircraft, which is consistent with the eventual target for the Rafale. On the export side, our teams are in discussions with a lot of countries and enjoy the full support of the President of the Republic, as we saw very recently in the Emirates. However, we must be wary of crying victory too soon.

In a context which remains on the whole a difficult one, our company stands firm, as it has always done. Those of you who are familiar with our six-monthly press conferences are fully aware of our results last year. For the others, all the necessary information is given in the file that will be distributed after this meeting, as well as in our annual report that can be downloaded from our website. For the current year, I will not give any economic or financial forecasts but would simply invite you to attend our next press conference, at which we will be presenting the results for the first six months. It should be noted that this conference will be on 23 July, one month earlier than usual.

So, let’s now take a closer look at business.

We will begin with business aviation

The Falcon 7X aircraft in service now total more than 12,000 flying hours. Customer feedback confirms that the handling and comfort of the aircraft are much appreciated. The Falcon 7X was also recently qualified to operate from London City Airport, which is only accessible to aircraft that have demonstrated excellent handling, short take-off and landing capability and low environmental impact.

With regard to the Falcon 2000LX, we delivered the first aircraft in early May, after receiving both EASA and FAA certification. This aircraft further improves on the already remarkable performance of the Falcon 2000, in particular with range extended to 4,000 nm. But above all, no other plane in this category is as efficient in terms of fuel consumption and pollutant emissions.