Pilatus arrives at Asian Aerospace on the back of a high volume of PC-12 sales, with a specific mission in mind – to sign up a local partner to operate a sales and maintenance centre for the Far East region.
Production of the PC-12 is gradually increasing to meet demand, but Pilatus has a backlog of 145 aircraft stretching to the end of 2007.Fred Muggli, sales and marketing executive for the PC-12, says: “We are sold out. It’s the way things are going at the moment – there is a high demand for single-engined turboprop aircraft around the world, for applications such as air ambulances or surveillance.”
Pilatus last week terminated its PC-12 sales and support relationship with Execujet in Africa, the Middle East and Scandinavia, but it is trying to extend its network of regional representatives for the aircraft to the Far East. It currently has one aircraft based on Bangkok, which can be seen on the static display here at the show.
“That is one of the reasons we are here in Singapore,” says Muggli. “We are looking for sales and maintenance representation in this region.”
The Swiss company, which is also displaying its new PC-21 trainer aircraft at the show, last year opened a regional centre in Russia, a move that is already bearing fruit.
Muggli says a deal is imminent with a private Russian company for “large numbers of aircraft”, which would include the five aircraft making up Pilatus’s total Russian allocation of PC-12s for 2006-7.
Source: Flight Daily News
