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Dassault Aviation's Falcon 10X is officially airborne. The jet completed its first test flight on June 19 from Bordeaux, with test pilot Sébastien Dupont de Dinechin in the left seat, along with copilot Fabrice Dougnac in the right. The 10X did not waste any time on its maiden voyage running through its paces. De Dinechin and Dougnac spent two and a half hours in the air, working through systems at 15,000 feet, followed by a cleanup and climb to 40,000 feet where he reached a top speed of Mach 0.82. No anomalies were reported. For Dassault, this was a moment for some well-deserved celebration. "This inaugural flight is another milestone for Dassault," said chairman and CEO Eric Trappier, who gave credit to the vast team and partners that enabled this moment to happen. De Dinechin's review was a little more succinct. The flight, he said, "went as planned and was a delight to fly."The first ground-up Falcon in a generationThis plane is not your grandfather's Falcon — it's a clean sheet design. Dassault has spent the past two decades optimizing and refining the original model. The 7X introduced fly-by-wire and the three-engine layout in the mid-2000s. The 6X that entered service in 2023 was in fact a redevelopment of the frozen 5X program. And with the 10X, Dassault has once again hit the reset button with a new fuselage, wing, digital flight control system, along with twin Rolls-Royce Pearl 10X engines. It is the only new business jet that has been or will be flown in 2026.A cabin built to win the argumentThe cabin is where the 10X makes its first statement. At 9 feet 1 inch wide and 6 feet 8 inches tall, it claims the largest cross-section of any business jet flying with about 2,780 cubic feet of volume. That edges out its closest competitor, the Gulfstream G700, which comes in at 8 feet 2 inches across and about 2,603 cubic feet. Dassault certainly plans on hanging their hat on those numbers as its projected range of 7,500 nautical miles is highly competitive but not class leading.Where it lands in the large-cabin fightBeyond the G700, the 10X also must contend with Gulfstream's G800 and Bombardier's Global 8000 which both advertise an 8,000 nm range. For certain edge use cases, the 500 nm shortfall of the 10X will come into play so Dassault will lean on cabin volume and economics as its calling card. Pricing is estimated to be around $75 million, which is the same ballpark of its competitors. While this milestone flight doesn't automatically signify that the program is back on its timeline track, it's still a positive sign that things are moving forward. Worth watchingService entry is targeted for late 2027 with early slots typically going to launch customers. Expect Gulfstream and Bombardier to sharpen their focus on price and availability as that date approaches. Owners of older large-cabin Falcons now have a new valuation reference point to work if the used market is within their sights over the next few years.The 10X still has plenty of test flights and certification ahead of it. But with this successful first flight, Dassault got the win they needed. It's time to pour some champagne.