Piaggio Aerospace was a late addition to the line-up of aircraft manufacturers exhibiting here at the MEBAA show in Dubai this week, with the Italian airframer eager to re-affirm its commitment to the business aviation market. The company, which has a strong connection with the UAE through its parent company Mubadala Aerospace, has an example of its latest P.180 Avanti Evo twin turboprop on the static display.
Earlier this year, Piaggio gave some people the impression that it may be pulling back from the bizav market in order to focus its attentions on the defense sector, for which it is developing the Hammerhead unmanned version of the Avanti. But new Piaggio CEO Renato Vaghi insisted that this is not the case and that it had simply intended to signal the fact that the new UAV will consume a significant portion of its resources in the next year or so.
“Our presence at this key business aviation event underlines Piaggio Aerospace’s full commitment to the sector,” Vaghi commented. “We are very proud of our aircraft and will continue to promote it around the world.”
The Avanti Evo seats up to nine passengers and has a maximum IFR range of 1,809 nautical miles (3,350 kilometers) and a maximum cruise speed of 402 knots (745 km per hour). The eye-catching pusherprop design has a maximum cruise altitude of 41,000 feet and a climb rate of 2,770 feet per minute.
Today, there are 220 Avantis in service around the world, five of which are the latest Evo version, plus 126 examples of the Avanti II and 89 of the original model. Piaggio (Stand 398) recently produced the first example of the Evo to roll off its all-new production line at Villanova d’Albenga near Genoa in northwestern Italy. Piaggio is looking to achieve a total production rate of 30 aircraft a year in the new plant and will be ramping up its supply chain to achieve this goal.
The facility includes separate production lines for the Evo and the Hammerhead.
According to Vaghi, Piaggio is working hard to improve customer support, especially through a campaign to improve the availability of parts, which has been a source of frustration to operators. “There has been an issue of what parts are needed, and when, by operators,” he told AIN. “But now we are reaching agreements with third party [support] providers to ensure that what is needed is available.” He pledged that significant improvements in this regard will be achieved by the second quarter of 2017.
