Julian Moxon/PARIS
Production of the Socata Tangara light twin is to be delayed by up to a year, as the French manufacturer meets increased demand for subcontracting work and its TBM700 single.
French certification of the Textron Lycoming 0-360-A1G6 powered Tangara was obtained in December 1997, with production start-up originally planned for early this year. Socata now says that the Tangara will not begin rolling off its production line at Tarbes in southern France before the end of the year "at the earliest".
Socata commercial director Christophe Van den Brouk says: "We remain committed to the Tangara. But we had to choose between remaining on schedule or meeting the demands of our main clients, Airbus, AI(R)and Eurocopter. They're all increasing production, and as major subcontractors, we have to go with them."
Socata supplies main belly fairings for the Airbus A330/A340 and several components for the A320 family, as well as components for Eurocopter helicopters.
Production of the six-seat TBM700 is also set to rise, from 11 aircraft last year to 15 in 1998 and "at least 20"in 1999, says Van den Brouk. The entire 1998 TBM700 production is already sold out, and so is some of the production for 1999. This is partly caused by the US Federal Aviation Administration decision to permit instrument flight rules operations of single engined aircraft.
Van den Brouk admits that several Tangara orders have been cancelled, although he adds that "most of our customers are keeping their delivery positions". The four seat aircraft is developed from the original Grumman Cougar, for which Socata obtained the manufacturing rights in 1995.
Source: Flight International
