After a rocky 2020, the top-tier business jet manufacturers are expected to stay the course this year, continuing work on already-in-development new models and likely announcing only incremental improvements to existing aircraft in lieu of any clean-sheet products.

Confirming the latter point, Dassault said in late July that it had postponed the planned 2020 announcement of its “next Falcon,” dubbed NX, due to the pandemic. The French aircraft manufacturer gave no timeline for when it might make that announcement, but Dassault chairman and CEO Eric Trappier said the launch has been “put off until it is easier to travel,” adding that he prefers to make the announcement in person with the aircraft’s partners. And given last month’s cancellation of the Paris Air Show in June due to Covid uncertainty, that makes such an event unlikely until 2022.

But Dassault is still going full-throttle on its super-midsize Falcon 6X—unveiled in February 2018—following its virtually broadcast rollout last month at Dassault’s Bordeaux-Mérignac final-assembly facility in France. First flight of the twinjet is planned for early this year, with entry into service in 2022.

Likewise, Gulfstream will continue flight testing of its new flagship G700 this year while also looking toward a 2022 service entry for the five-zone, ultra-long-range jet. In a late-November briefing, Gulfstream senior v-p of innovation, engineering, and flight Colin Miller said the five flight-test G700s had amassed more than 850 flight hours, noting that the program hasn’t “missed a beat” during the Covid crisis.

He added that the G700 test aircraft have already completed nearly all of the fundamental tests that are needed as the company prepares for certification. This includes flutter testing, stalls, loads, flying qualities, cold weather, and high altitude trials. The company now is “deeply immersed in avionics testing,” Miller said, “and we’re preparing for certification.”

Meanwhile, Bombardier doesn’t anticipate significant capital investment in new products in the next five years as the company attempts to manage its debt load after it becomes a standalone business jet manufacturer this year following the sale of its train division. Bombardier president and CEO Eric Martel said in November that except for perhaps a product update, there are no current plans for new models. Even then, he expects any investment in such updates to be “very minimal because we've refreshed our product line pretty much across the board.”