How much a Dassault Falcon 2000 costs: purchase price and upkeep

A pre-owned Falcon 2000 starts at $2.65 million, and a new 2000LXS from the factory costs around $38 million, to my information. The gap between the bottom of the offers and a new aircraft runs to more than a factor of ten, and it comes down to the version, the engines and the flight deck. Here is what makes up each figure in that corridor, what an inspection can take a million off, and what a year of owning a large French aircraft costs.

The price corridor on the type

The figures are market reference points from the open marketplaces, to my information. The value of a particular aircraft is calculated from its records, its hours and its specification.

Full specifications and sourcing are on the model page.

Why one name costs both $2.65 million and $38 million

The version decides more than half the price. The original 1990s aircraft with CFE738 engines holds 2,841 nautical miles. The EX version, after re-engining on Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308C, holds 3,878 miles; the LX with winglets and the current LXS hold 4,000. Between the bottom and the top of that list the difference in maximum leg runs to more than two thousand kilometres, and the market prices it directly.

The flight deck splits the type in two. The boundary runs along the word EASy: the Honeywell Primus Epic suite sits on the EX EASy versions and later. An aircraft below that line needs a different approach to retrofit and to crew training, and it shows on resale.

Engines. A pair of PW308C is the most expensive assembly on the aircraft. The market rule is the same across every type: an aircraft outside an hourly-rate programme is worth less, and the difference usually exceeds the contributions that were never paid in. It has been measured on the neighbours in the class: a Challenger 604 without MSP or JSSI loses $1.5–2 million, a Global 6000 without CorporateCare the same $1.5–2 million, a Phenom 300 without ESP $500–800 thousand. The order of magnitude on a large twin is the same. Ask for the programme status on each Falcon 2000 engine before any conversation about price.

Hours and landings. The life of some assemblies is counted in cycles. An aircraft with moderate hours and a high number of landings behaves differently in the budget from a contemporary that flew the same hours on long legs.

Communications and surveillance. An ADS-B Out and FANS 1/A fit costs $200–350 thousand on a Hawker 800, $600 thousand to $1 million on a Challenger 604 and $0.7–1.2 million on the Global Express family. On the Falcon 2000 the scope depends on the flight deck version, and on a cheap aircraft that item eats a visible share of the price. The estimate for an individual aircraft comes from a service centre after it looks at the avionics.

Event history and interior. Documented repair work brings the price down. Undocumented work narrows the circle of buyers. A loud bespoke interior does the same.

A new aircraft against a late pre-owned one

A new 2000LXS is around $38 million, to my information. A late pre-owned aircraft of the same version costs visibly less, and the buyer pays for that difference with several years of life used up and with somebody else's cabin specification. The size of the discount is calculated on the individual offer: year of build, hours and cycles, engine programme status, interior condition.

Working against the discount is the lead time on a new aircraft: final assembly is moving to India in partnership with Reliance, and the first Indian-built aircraft is expected around 2028. Confirm the delivery slot and the acceptance site with the manufacturer before signing a contract.

Old aircraft carry their own arithmetic. The bottom of the offers on the type is $2.65 million, to my information. Thirty years of depreciation went through the hands of previous owners, and the buyer pays for the life that remains.

What a year of ownership costs

The annual budget is built from the bottom up, line by line, against a particular aircraft and a particular home base.

The last line differs from the rest in that no invoice for it arrives monthly. It is the one most often left out. The scale is clear from the neighbours: heavy airframe checks on the Global Express family run $1.5–2.5 million, and overhaul of a pair of CF34-3A on a Challenger 600/601 $1.5–2 million. An aircraft without a maintenance programme is calculated with its own reserve at the same rate.

There are no published annual figures on the Falcon 2000 in the open: fixed costs for the year and variable costs per flight hour come from a management company's proposal on the date of the calculation.

The lower reference point comes from the neighbouring class. On the super-midsize Praetor 600 the guides give around $948,470 a year fixed and around $4,029 an hour variable: at 100 hours the all-in cost of an hour works out at $13,500, at 300 hours at $7,200. A large twin costs more on every line, and the curve behaves the same way.

From what number of hours ownership makes sense

Across the large class the threshold falls somewhere around 200–350 hours a year, which is how it works out on the Challenger 604. Below 100–150 hours, charter and fractional schemes are usually cheaper: the fixed block runs in full while the capability of the airframe sits unused.

There are two mechanisms for bringing costs down. Managing the aircraft through an operator removes your own in-house department and brings insurance and maintenance rates across a whole fleet. Selling spare hours into charter covers part of the fixed block, while adding hours to the life used and contributions to the reserve. Both schemes are calculated on your base and your schedule.

A detailed breakdown of the cost structure is in the article on running a private jet.

The money that does not show up on an invoice

The capital put into the aircraft is frozen for the whole period of ownership plus the time it takes to sell. Average days on market is an open figure: on the Challenger 350 it is 72 days, on the G650 112, on the Challenger 300 165, on the Global 7500 189. At a 15 percent annual return on the main business, six months on market costs 7.5 percent of the value of the aircraft. Days on market for the Falcon 2000 is calculated from the current listings: an averaged figure on the type goes stale within a quarter.

The Falcon 2000 sits in a reasonable position here: 675 aircraft built means a wide circle of buyers and a developed service network. The other side of that is a wide supply as well, and the bargaining runs off the state of the documents.

How residual value builds up line by line I cover in a separate article on the residual value of a business jet.

What to do before the deposit

Settle on the version that covers your route network. The answer cuts out half the offers and half the price corridor.

Ask for hours and landings on each candidate as two separate figures.

Confirm the hourly-programme status on each engine and the date of the next heavy airframe work.

Check the communications and surveillance fit, translate what is missing into money and take it off the price.

Build the annual budget across the eight lines against your own hours and your own base before signing a letter of intent. The list of questions for the seller is in the article on what to ask before the conversation.

Conclusion

The Falcon 2000 costs $2.65 million at the entry and $38 million at the top, to my information. Four positions explain the difference: version and engines, flight deck, life remaining together with programme status, and the communications fit. Each is calculated from the documents of a particular aircraft inside one working day, and until that is done a conversation about price stays a conversation about the name of a type.

Specifications and a review of the seven versions are in the paired Falcon 2000 overview.

The figures in this article are market reference points, to my information. The value of a particular aircraft and its annual budget are calculated from its records, its base and its planned number of hours.

Alexander Filimonov — business aviation: sourcing, purchase and entry into service of aircraft.

We will put together a short list of aircraft with verified records and calculate the annual budget against your hours and your base: https://grok.flights/en/buy.html