Pilatus Aircraft Ltd is pleased to announce its partnership with PZL Swidnik S.A. for the assembly of PC-12 fuselage and wing cells. Following in-depth and extremely detailed assessments of various suppliers, Pilatus is confident that PZL Swidnik S.A. will prove to be a partner capable of meeting the highest standards of quality, and one with the requisite experience and certifications in the aviation industry.
Located in the Lublin region to the south-east of Warsaw, PZL Swidnik S.A. of Swidnik was recently acquired by AgustaWestland, the air transport Group. The contract between Pilatus and PZL Swidnik S.A. has been signed for a ten year period, and provides for delivery of the first complete PC-12 structures during the second half of 2011. Pilatus Aircraft Ltd will continue to produce detail parts in Stans, and these will be made available to PZL Swidnik S.A. for assembly work.
The PC-12 positions Pilatus Aircraft Ltd as the market leader in the single engine turboprop aircraft segment. With a view to safeguarding and further expanding PC-12 production rates in the future, Pilatus Aircraft Ltd has been seeking another partner in addition to the existing relationship with OGMA – Indústria Aeronáutica de Portugal. The long and excellent partnership of many years with OGMA will continue on its present basis.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Finnish Air Force Gets PC-12s Ahead of Schedule
The deliveries of the Pilatus PC-12 NGs that the Finnish Air Force has purchased from Switzerland will take place ahead of schedule. The first aircraft destined for Finland are currently undergoing flight testing, and the first examples of the service’s new liaison aircraft will be ferried to Finland in July. The initial schedule called for deliveries during the last quarter of the year.
A contract for the purchase of six aircraft was signed between the Finnish Air Force and Pilatus Aircraft in the spring of 2009. The new aircraft will replace six twin-engined Piper Chieftains, which have soldiered on for a quarter of a century and will be retired during 2010, nine Valmet Redigos that have been flown in liaison duties, and seven Piper Arrows, which were already struck off charge in 2004. The service will most likely retain its Redigos until 2013. The new aircraft is a marked improvement over its predecessors in terms of speed and range and can reach Brussels from Helsinki non-stop.
A contract for the purchase of six aircraft was signed between the Finnish Air Force and Pilatus Aircraft in the spring of 2009. The new aircraft will replace six twin-engined Piper Chieftains, which have soldiered on for a quarter of a century and will be retired during 2010, nine Valmet Redigos that have been flown in liaison duties, and seven Piper Arrows, which were already struck off charge in 2004. The service will most likely retain its Redigos until 2013. The new aircraft is a marked improvement over its predecessors in terms of speed and range and can reach Brussels from Helsinki non-stop.
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.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
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.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
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.
"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.
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