13 september 2019
10u24
Last week the government decided to rent two Falcon 7X aircraft,
luxury aircraft from the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault,
with complete discretion to guarantee the future of the "white fleet".
The white fleet of Defense consists of passenger aircraft that are used for,
among other things, flights from the king, ministers and members of European institutions.
The two rented aircraft must serve to replace the outdated and completed white fleet.
The Falcon 7X is labeled as the "Rolls Royce" from the Dassault range.
The two aircraft are rented for 12 years, according to a decision of the Council of Ministers last Friday.
However, that decision was not disclosed.
Defense Minister Didier Reynders confirms to Belga
that the government has signed a lease contract of 124 million euros for the aircraft.
This is a 'wet lease' agreement whereby only the aircraft are rented without a crew,
analogous to the Airbus A321 that Defense has been leasing from the Portuguese company Hi Fly for a few years.
According to Reynders, the Defense organization can save 40 million euros in 12 years.
The four Embraer aircraft that are still in service at Melsbroek will be sold for around 15 million euros.
As far as the Falcon 900 is concerned,
according to Reynders it is only good for a museum or for demolition.