Piaggio Aero Industries is relying heavily on its links with sports car producer Ferrari to sell the revived P180Avanti high-performance twin turboprop in the USA. The Italian company has formed Greenville, South Carolina-based Piaggio America to sell and support the Avanti in North America and named JetWork, Texas, as its first US service centre. Piaggio plans to produce15 aircraft next year, 24 in 2002 and 30 in 2003, mostly for the US market. Piaggio delivered a P180 in executive configuration to Ferrari earlier this year. The Italian car manufacturer and Formula One racing team is also a stakeholder in the aircraft company.
Source: Flight International
