Kate Sarsfield/DALLAS
New Piper Aircraft is studying the development of a single-engine business jet. The project is a major departure for the Vero Beach, Florida-based manufacturer, which has previously specialised in piston- and turboprop- powered aircraft.
"The marketplace of the late 1990s is very receptive to single-turbine aircraft," says Larry Bardon, New Piper's director of sales. The manufacturer, which has successfully emerged from a long period in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has not disclosed any details of the aircraft. Bardon declines to say whether New Piper will look for a partner in the development programme. "It is too early to make any decisions, but we have not ruled out anything at this stage,"he says.
Bardon says that the company will be examining several powerplants including the Williams FJX-2 turbofan, which is part of the NASA/Williams General Aviation Propulsion project to inject new technology into the general-aviation industry. "With the new technologies that are being developed, New Piper will be able to provide a jet at low cost and high performance," Bardon says.
In 1996, the manufacturer canvassed the views of Malibu Mirage owners to assess their interest in a possible New Piper business jet. "The response was overwhelming, the feedback was very positive," says Bardon. New Piper expects that owners of the new Malibu Meridian single-turboprop will gravitate to the proposed aircraft.
Go-ahead with the project would also provides a boost to the growing single-business-jet aircraft market, in which several projects have emerged recently , most notably VisionAire's Vantage and Century Aerospace's Century Jet. Major business-jet manufacturers such as Bombardier, Cessna and Raytheon have not expressed any interest in entering the market at this stage, although some industry observers believe that it is only a matter of time before at least one makes a move.
Source: Flight International
