John Rosanvallon, President of Dassault Falcon Jet

This is a partial transcript from Your World with Neil Cavuto, December 8, 2001.

BRENDA BUTTNER, HOST: From investing to investing your time more wisely, more and more business travelers are opting for private planes over commercial airliners these days. That's because of all the hassles and extra time spent at the airport lately, not to mention safety concerns.

So what's it all mean for the future of the corporate jet industry? Let's ask John Rosanvallon. He is president of Dassault Falcon Jet. Dassault Aviation, its parent company, is the largest manufacturer of corporate jets in the world.

Sir, thanks for joining us.

JOHN ROSANVALLON, PRESIDENT, DASSAULT FALCON JET: Good afternoon.

BUTTNER: So, flying the private skies, basically. You don't get the hassle, you get more convenience.

ROSANVALLON: So far, people (UNINTELLIGIBLE) because it was really the best way to save time and to elevate productive business. Now, safety and security have really become two added components to corporate aviation.

BUTTNER: So, how has business been since September 11th?

ROSANVALLON: September 11, you know, is nothing huge for us, since already the economy had been slowing down in 2001. But when we look long-term — and we have already started to see it — more and more people want to know more, and turn to our business aviation.

BUTTNER: A lot of times, people can't afford to just buy a corporate jet for their company. And now there's a new thing called time sharing, where you buy a portion on the jet, you buy a flight on the jet, essentially. How is that going along?

ROSANVALLON: Time sharing, or fractionally ownership, did not exist 10 years ago. Since then and truly started the concept, and now it has become 25 percent of our market. The concept is so successful that Warren Buffett bought the company. And for us, Falcon, it has become our largest customer. We have sold over 100 airplanes to this great company.

BUTTNER: You've got Buffett behind you?

ROSANVALLON: Yes.

BUTTNER: The idea is, though, if I wanted to go from Newark to Omaha, say, I could buy a flight. Now, it's still much more expensive than first class, yes?

ROSANVALLON: Not really, because if you buy, for example, a fourth of an airplane, this gives you access to 200 hours per year. And you call, and within four hours, the airplane will be there waiting for you. And if you have eight people on board, that's really a very reasonable way to travel.

BUTTNER: So if I'm going to fly commercially, I've got a couple hours wait now. I mean, for security concerns — we're glad for that wait, but it can be inconvenient. If I want to get onto this time-sharing arrangement, how long does it take me to get through, to get onto the plane?

ROSANVALLON: If you take, for instance, Teterboro Airport, it's a very large corporate airport just outside of New York City, it used to take you two minutes to go through, no controls. Right now, security is much tougher, but it's still five to 10 minutes, maximum.

BUTTNER: How can you assure me of security? I mean, these big jets, you know, they're are getting their cockpit doors basically nailed down, you can't get through them. What about your little jets? How safe can they be?

ROSANVALLON: You know, business aviation, I would say, inherently is safe and secure. We know the airplane, we know the captain, we know the passengers. So that's, inherently, a very safe environment.

But we have done more. And again, looking at Teterboro, we have more control, more access, a lot of things have been done much better at this airport.

BUTTNER: Do you think it's the future for the big airlines, to start getting involved in this, if this is the profitable way? I mean, they're looking for bailouts now.

ROSANVALLON: For instance, you know United Airlines has been looking at this new way of flying their high-contribution customers. And they are starting a new venture now. But you know, also four years ago, PanAmerican had been starting a business aviation department with Falcon.

BUTTNER: But is this the future, basically, do you think, for business travel?

ROSANVALLON: I think more and more business people who charter time-sharing you know, will consider business aviations. I think that we have a great future ahead of us.

BUTTNER: Prices have got to come down a little bit, though. It's still an expensive flight from Newark to Omaha.

ROSANVALLON: It's still, but it's also very productive, too.

BUTTNER: OK, thank you so much, sir.

ROSANVALLON: Thank you.

BUTTNER: John Rosanvallon. He is president of Dassault Aviation.

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