France’s Dassault Halts Private Jet Sales to Russia on Sanctions

(Bloomberg) -- Dassault Aviation SA will stop selling business jets to Russian clients on sanctions lists, dealing another blow to air travel in the country.

The French manufacturer of the Falcon family of private aircraft is combing through its customer lists to pull any that come under the economic measures, Chief Executive Officer Eric Trappier said Friday at a press conference outside Paris.

“We have in our order books a certain number of jets for Russians and we're studying case by case how sanctions would be applied,” he said. “We'll freeze those contracts.”

Dassault's move comes as a flood of companies and organizations cut ties to Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine and ensuing sanctions against banks, firms and oligarchs. The Russian airline industry has been isolated by the war as flag carrier Aeroflot PJSC is banned from entering European Union, Canadian or U.S. airspace and from using the world's biggest ticket booking companies.

“We have clients in Russia and there are Falcons flying in Russia,” Dassault's Trappier said Friday. “We'll face an impact and it's not good news.”

Sales related to Russia tend to be for higher end models like the Falcon 8X that have a longer range because the country is vast, he said.

The French aerospace supplier also makes the Rafale fighter jets. It competes with Canada's Bombardier Inc. and U.S. manufacturer General Dynamics Corp.'s Gulfstream unit in the business-plane market. Each will be affected by sanctions.

Dassault's curbs on sales to Russia represent a further move in France targeting rich tycoons close to President Vladimir Putin who often travel by private jet.

On Thursday, Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin's superyacht was blocked by French customs officials on the Cote D'Azur as it prepared to make a hasty departure.