{"text":[[{"start":10.45,"text":"Dassault Aviation, the French maker of Falcon business jets, has won a legal claim that private planes should be able to qualify as environmentally sustainable under EU rules after they were initially excluded. "}],[{"start":22.4,"text":"The European Court of Justice on Wednesday sided with Dassault, ruling that the exclusion from the EU’s new green rules could penalise the company by hampering its access to funding, and that some of the criteria the EU had relied on to leave out private jets were unsatisfactory. "}],[{"start":40.7,"text":"“The Commission failed to take into account certain relevant factors, in particular the ability of these aircraft to operate on sustainable aviation fuels,” the court argued in its ruling. "}],[{"start":50.95,"text":"It added that measuring the environmental impact of business jets by looking at the CO₂ emissions per passenger and per kilometre compared with other modes of transport was not a good metric on its own, as other factors such as flexibility and speed needed to be added into the equation. "}],[{"start":66.75,"text":"The ruling, related to the so-called taxonomy classification, hands a win to a sector that has often been lambasted by environmentalists and even targeted by politicians. In France, leftwing opposition parties have campaigned unsuccessfully in the past to ban private jets."}],[{"start":84.8,"text":"Dassault, which filed its claim in 2024, had complained it was being penalised when broader aviation companies were included in EU green rules. These are meant to take into account the measures taken by various industries to lower emissions."}],[{"start":98.25,"text":"Dassault’s chief executive Éric Trappier told a French parliamentary hearing last September the EU rules made him “angry”."}],[{"start":106.2,"text":"“I’m going the right direction (with sustainable fuels) and I’m not in the European taxonomy. There’s a political will to say ‘it’s a business jet, we don’t care’ . . . And it’s ridiculous,” Trappier said, adding that the EU was discouraging manufacturing in Europe and France as a result. "}],[{"start":122.5,"text":"“It would be in my interest to make all the Falcons in the US,” he warned, calling for “a frank dialogue”."}],[{"start":128.95,"text":"The company had no immediate comment on Wednesday. The Falcon jets are the second leg of a business that also revolves around the Rafale fighter jet, and the business plans made up close to 40 per cent of its €7.4bn revenue in 2025. It is close to launching its biggest ever private jet, the Falcon 10X, which it is already marketing to clients. "}],[{"start":152.04999999999998,"text":"The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Any appeal against the decision by the General Court, a lower tier of the Court of Justice of the European Union, must be brought within two months and 10 days."}],[{"start":175.45,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782302980_9053.mp3"}