SeaPort Flies From Salina

SeaPort Airlines is the new provider of essential air service for the Salina, Kansas airport. SeaPort will begin service from Salina to Kansas City with daily roundtrip flights Sunday through Friday, it said. The service will start as early as April 19, it said. SeaPort will use 9-seat Swiss-built Pilatus PC-12 aircraft on the route. Great Lakes Airlines has been serving the market for the last several years. It will discontinue service on April 19.

How’s PlaneSense Doing?

They are holding up quite well. Boasting the largest fleet of Pilatus PC-12s in the world, Alpha Flying has grown from two planes to 31 since the company was founded in 1996. Today the PlaneSense program has between 200 and 300 clients, who purchase one-eighth shares of the aircraft that provides them with 90 hours of flight. PlaneSense CEO George Antoniadis says Alpha Flying’s unique positioning in the market has allowed them to weather the economic storm better than most. PlaneSense experienced less than half the program exits other fractional ownership programs have suffered. Of those, all of those shares were successfully remarketed to new entrants ... and PlaneSense sold additional shares in 2009 and 2010. "So we didn't experience a reduction in client base. In fact, we increased," said Antoniadis. Read the whole thing.

Sean Sanders Flies Haiti Relief

9:30 a.m. on a rainy, cold, Tuesday morning in Atlanta, Ga. Five relief workers, including a lawyer and a Creole-speaking doctor, are ready to take off from DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in a private airplane donated for the trip. On board with them, piled to the airplane’s ceiling, are boxes and bags stuffed with prescription drugs and medical equipment they will take to a clinic outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti. For some on board, this is a return trip since the earthquake struck Jan. 12. For Pilatus Center South’s Sean Sanders, it’s the tenth round-trip to Haiti in two weeks. AOPA covered Sean’s adventures here.

SeaPort May Service Kansas City

SeaPort Airlines, which flies three round trips between Harrison and Memphis six days a week, has been selected by Salina, Kan., leaders to also provide Essential Air Service to Kansas City, Mo., International Airport, SeaPort President Rob McKinney said. If the U.S. Department of Transportation affirms Salina's choice of SeaPort, it may also lead to SeaPort's adding Kansas City as a flight destination from Harrison. McKinney said he would then put forth a request to the DOT for a service change, adding a Harrison to Kansas City flight.

Haiti Relief: PC-12s Go Where No One Else Can

On the day the earthquake struck Haiti, Laura Mason received more than a dozen calls from international relief organizations for help. As the executive director of the Pilatus Owners and Pilots Association (POPA), Mason was in a unique position to support the relief efforts. She immediately began coordinating humanitarian flights to Haiti by owners and operators of Pilatus PC-12 turboprop aircraft from across the country.

"We've had at least 30 POPA members making humanitarian flights to Haiti, many flying repeat missions," said Mason. "One of our members has been flying to and from Haiti for the last two weeks."

The devastated infrastructure of Haiti, and distance from the U.S., put Pilatus operators in high demand among relief organizations.

"The PC-12 is the ideal aircraft for these missions," said POPA President Bob MacLean. "With the main airport in Port-au-Prince locked down, the relief organizations needed to be able to get into the smaller airfields - with no lights, no tower - surrounding the city. They needed to be able to land on dirt airstrips. The PC-12 can do all that. It also has a large cargo capacity, the flexibility to carry people or supplies and it has the range to fly 700 miles to Haiti, hold before landing and return."

Read the whole thing here.

PC-12 NG Deliveries Reach a New High

Pilatus is delighted to announce a record-breaking year for PC-12 deliveries. The company delivered 100 PC-12 NGs in 2009 worldwide, surpassing delivery totals for any production year since the PC-12 program began. “Achieving 100 deliveries in a single year is a significant milestone for Pilatus and the PC-12 NG production program and reason to celebrate,” said Ignaz Gretener, Vice President General Aviation at Pilatus Aircraft, Ltd. “This would be true in any year, but the fact we did it last year is simply outstanding.”

The PC-12 has consistently been one of the top selling models of turbine-powered aircraft, and Pilatus has conservatively increased production over the years, delivering 90, 92, and 97 of the type in 2006, 2007, and 2008, respectively. The company’s steady approach has allowed it to carefully grow yet stay appropriately lean.

BMW Sauber F1 Team takes off with Pilatus

A key factor in ensuring that Formula One teams operate efficiently is flexible travel planning and the option of landing at small airports close to race tracks. With this in mind, the BMW Sauber F1 Team has entered a partnership with Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. The Swiss plane manufacturer will make its nine-seater PC-12 NG – in team livery – available for European flights.

Team Principal and owner Peter Sauber is confident that “This partnership will gain us valuable time at many races and test drives. We value Pilatus’ reputation very highly and envisage plenty of synergies in joint incentive events as well as technology communications.”

Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, Oscar J. Schwenk, commented: “Pilatus Aircraft Ltd is delighted to be able to partner the BMW Sauber Team during the 2010 season. In motor racing as in aviation, the highest quality, optimum precision and perfect teamwork are vital success factors. As Switzerland’s sole aircraft manufacturer, we wish Switzerland’s only Formula One team a high-flying season full of precision landings.”