On Tuesday, September 23, 2025, in the French town of Cergy, Île-de-France region, Val-d’Oise department, northwest of Paris, Dassault Aviation, the aerospace company, ceremonially opened its first new production facility since the 1970s.
Photos: V. Barrier, Dassault Aviation
The opening ceremony, presided over by Chairman and CEO Éric Trappier together with the plant’s employees, was attended by Philippe Court, Prefect of Val-d’Oise, as well as numerous elected officials, including Valérie Pécresse, President of the Paris Regional Council, Marie-Christine Cavecchi, President of the Val-d’Oise Departmental Council, and Jean-Paul Jardon, Mayor of Cergy and President of the urban community. Military authorities and representatives of the regional industrial ecosystem were also present.
Éric Trappier stated:
“This is Dassault Aviation’s first new production facility since the 1970s. It sends a positive signal to the aerospace sector and to industry as a whole. France possesses unique expertise that we must preserve and develop within our national territory. This is a question of sovereignty, which is particularly vital in the current context. It is also an economic and social imperative, to meet the challenge of reindustrializing our country and creating jobs.”
Dassault Aviation’s state-of-the-art facility in Cergy, whose start-up began in the summer of 2024, has taken over operations previously carried out at the now-obsolete plant in Argenteuil, Île-de-France region, Val-d’Oise department, located in the northwestern part of the Paris metropolitan area.
These operations include the assembly of fuselage panels for Falcon business jets and Rafale multirole fighters, as well as small components, assembly and outfitting of the Rafale forward fuselage, and production of flexible metal hoses for fuel and hydraulic systems.
The new facility already employs more than 600 engineers, technicians, supervisors, and skilled workers, most of whom were transferred from the company’s former Argenteuil plant.
- General characteristics:
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- Total area: 110 760 m²
- Production area: 39 700 m²
- Roof fully equipped with solar panels
- Integrated green space within the site
- Innovative ventilation system for workshops and offices
- Smart lighting
- Employment:
- Over 600 employees
- Main areas of activity:
- Assembly of fuselage panels and small parts for Falcon and Rafale aircraft
- Assembly of forward fuselages for Rafale and Falcon aircraft
- Outfitting of Rafale fuselages: installation of circuits (electrical, fuel, hydraulic, pneumatic) and certain equipment (computers, actuators, landing gear, etc.)
- Production of metal hoses
- Note: Cergy has taken over the activities of the Argenteuil plant (with the exception of basic small parts production, which was transferred to the Seclin facility).
- Timeline:
- Project launch: 2019
- Groundbreaking: 2021
- Completion: July 2024
- Transfer of teams and machinery from Argenteuil: July 2024 – January 2025
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