Notably absent from Farnborough ‘96 is Serge Dassault, chairman and chief executive officer of Dassault Aviation and a score of companies in the Dassault Industrie group.
Though his heart is at Farnborough - he can't remember missing a single show since he graduated as an aircraft engineer almost half a century ago - he is prevented from leaving France by an international arrest warrant issued by Belgian magistrates.
Dassault is accused of involvement in a bribe to Belgian government ministers in exchange for BFr90 billion ($2.8 billion) contracts to buy Dassault Electronique Carapace electronic warfare equipment for the Belgian Air Force Lockheed Martin F16 fighters.
He strongly denies the allegation. "I am a complete stranger to this transaction," he says, adding that he is willing to be questioned, but only in France.
As for Farnborough, Dassault says: "I wish all concerned the best success, fair weather as well as numerous and fruitful business contacts."
It's "...business as usual," says Rear-Admiral (Rtd) Jean-Pierre Robillard welcoming visitors to the Dassault Aviation chalet. Representing the company are vice-president (engineering) Bruno Revellin-Falcoz, Pierre Chouzenoux, general manager for international affairs and Jean-Francois Georges, director-general for civil aircraft.
In addition, Dassault's Rafale MO1, Falcon 2000 and Falcon 900EX fly in the daily display.
Meanwhile, the jovial Dassault boss, now 70 but looking fit and much younger, is at his headquarters in the Paris suburb of Vaucresson, keeping in touch with Farnborough and overseeing international business.
His attention these days is focused on the coming merger of privately-owned profit-making Dassault Aviation and state-owned but money-losing Aerospatiale.
The merger, ordered by the French Government, will create a civil and military aerospace conglomerate capable of building airliners, jet fighters, missiles and satellites.
After his initial stiff resistance to the merger and the ensuing dog-fight for supremacy, Serge Dassault has been won over to the idea.
He will emerge with a 27% stake, though some say that it might go up to 47% and perhaps as much as 51% in the new entity.
Dassault is better off today with the recent appointment of Yves Michot, moved up from managing director to become chairman of Aerospatiale.
Michot is largely credited with the breakthrough in the protracted Dassault-Aerospatiale merger talks.
In addition to the grand alliance plan, Michot will oversee the restructuring of Airbus Industrie in which Aerospatiale has a 37.9% stake.
The Dassault-Aerospatiale deal must be signed and sealed by 31 December 1996, and the new company may well be formed by the next Paris air show at Le Bourget in mid-1997.
The arrest warrant against Dassault follows his refusal in late April to appear before a judge in the Belgian city of Liege for further questioning in the bribery case.
He had originally been questioned by a Belgian interrogating magistrate in Paris in November 1995 and remains at the disposal of Belgian justice to be questioned again, but only in France.
Dassault invariably cites the experiences of other French industrialists in recent Belgian investigations as the reason for not responding to the summons.
Source: Flight Daily News
