Pilatus Performs Well Despite Tough Market

In spite of the general financial and economic crisis, 2009 was another year of new records for Pilatus Aircraft Ltd: the highest ever operating income (CHF 78 million), a record number of PC-12 NG deliveries (100) and the biggest single order in its entire history with the PC-21 assignment from the United Arab Emirates.

The United Arab Emirates decided to go with Pilatus again in mid-November of last year. As an existing customer with a fleet of 31 Pilatus PC-7s, the UAE have now opted for the PC-21 training system. The total order for 25 aircraft is worth over CHF 500 million.

A further contract was also concluded with the Finnish Air Force for six PC-12 NGs to be deployed as liaison aircraft. This is the first ever order from a European air force for an entire fleet of this type of aircraft.

The global financial and economic crisis impacted on sales of business aircraft, resulting in cancellations and a slowdown in the order flow. Good planning and a full order book ensured Pilatus delivered a record number of PC-12 NGs (100) notwithstanding, including the 900th PC-12 to an existing customer in the USA.

In 2009, readers of “Professional Pilot Magazine” and “Aviation International News” voted Pilatus Customer Service the best in its category for the eighth and sixth times consecutively.

The Pilatus Maintenance Business Unit remained very busy throughout the year under review, essentially in connection with the conversion of the PC-7 fleet operated by the Swiss Air Force. These aircraft were fitted with a new cockpit. Buoyant demand for component and maintenance work also contributed to good capacity utilization. Maintenance is also responsible for production of the PC-6: five such aircraft were delivered in 2009. The legendary Pilatus Porter celebrated its 50th birthday during the year under review – and was brought right up to date with a state-of-the-art Garmin glass cockpit.

Around the world in 60 days with a PC-12

Here’s a video slide show by photographer Tom Sólo about his round-the-world trip aboard a Pilatus PC-12. Some European entrepreneurs decided to take a Pilatus PC-12 around the world and have some fun on the way. Check out the photographs of this 60 day unique round-the-world trip. Spain, Egypt, Dubai, Maldives, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Caledonia, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Easter Island, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Cape Verde, Morocco, Spain.

Seaport Begins Operations in Salina

SeaPort began operations in Salina, Kansas, offering three nonstop flights to Kansas City Sunday through Friday. Three flights is a “starting place,” McKinney said. A fourth flight to Kansas City is a goal, along with flights someday to Denver in the company’s Pilatus PC-12. SeaPort replaces the 19-seat planes flown by Great Lakes Airlines as the scheduled air carrier for Salina, using a federal Essential Air Service subsidy. The smaller planes are right-sized for Salina, he said, going from two to three flights a day to “give people more choice, more opportunity to get where they need to go.”

Pilatus Partners with PZL Swidnik

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.

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.

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.