several regional airlines, touting the Mercure 100 as a replacement for the Douglas DC-9. A few airlines showed some initial interest but only Air Inter, a domestic French airline, placed an order. This lack of interest was due to several factors, including the devaluation of the dollar and the oil crisis of the 1970s, but mainly because of the Mercure's operating range – suitable for domestic European operations but unable to sustain longer routes; at maximum payload, the aircraft's range was only . Consequently, the Mercure 100 achieved no foreign sales. With a total of only ten sales with one of the prototypes refurbished and sold as the 11th Mercure to Air Inter, the airliner represented one of the worst failures of a commercial airliner in terms of aircraft sold. Mercure 200 project After the commercial failure of the Mercure 100, Marcel Dassault requested a new version, the Mercure 200C, in cooperation with Air France, to carry 140 passengers across . Several major carriers in the United States showed some interest. At the beginning of 1973, an agreement was formed with the French government to finance this programme as a 200-million French Francs loan, refundable on sales after the 201st aircraft. However Air France sought a JT8D-117 powered airliner, quieter but larger, requiring an additional 80-million French Francs loan. The French government decided Dassault had to support half of the Mercure 200C development costs, impossible after the Mercure 100 failure. The project was then canceled. To answer an official request, Dassault proposed a variant with the new CFM International CFM56 and a supercritical wing. In 1975, contacts were made with Douglas Aircraft Company and Lockheed Corporation to build and sell it in the US, and with SNIAS to build it in France. However, Marcel Dassault was concerned that the CFM56 was not yet ordered. The Mercure 200-1 would be lengthened by to accommodate 160 passengers in two classes to 184, while the 200-2 would keep the Mercure 100 fuselage length with the new wing to seat 124 in two classes to 150. The wide wing of the 200 version would have an area of , for a empty weight and a MTOW. Meanwhile, Douglas introduced a competing, stretched DC-9. Dassault then initiated contacts with General Dynamics, a Mirage F1 competitor with the F-16 Fighting Falcon, with no outcome. In 1981, Marcel Dassault tried to license the program in the US,