Global business jet market starting to recover -Dassault Aviation chief

By Cyril Altmeyer

PARIS (Reuters) - The global business jet market, which had been bruised by the 2007-08 financial crisis, has started to show signs of recovery, the head of France's Dassault Aviation said on Thursday.

Sales of business jets halved from their peak of 1,317 in 2008 to 661 in 2016, according to data from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, but jet maker Dassault's chairman and CEO Eric Trappier told reporters there were signs the market is picking up and that his company is also in the process of developing a new business jet.

Speaking in his capacity as head of the French Gifas aerospace business interest group, Trappier said there had been a pick up in activity over the past month.

Trappier's comments echoed those made in October by Honeywell, which said it expected the market to receive a boost from the global economy's steady growth and upgrades to newer aircraft from U.S. companies.

Dassault Aviation last month said it was scrapping development of the Falcon 5X jet because of delays and technical problems with its French-supplied engines. It added that it would launch a new model powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.

(Reporting by Cyril Altmeyer; Writing by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by David Goodman)