Ibis Aerospace has selected Texas-based Southstar Aircraft Interiors to complete the Ae270 Spirit single-turboprop business aircraft for the North American market. DeCrane Aircraft Seating (formerly Erda) will supply executive seats for the five-passenger, $2.5 million aircraft.
The announcements come as the company, a joint venture between Aero Vodochody of the Czech Republic and Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation of Taiwan, prepares to begin verification flights of the first production aircraft at its Odolena Voda facility. The aircraft will be flown to Southstar's Uvalde, Texas, base in November, where a demonstrator will be built.
Ibis president Yiri Fidransky says while the Ae270 is available in commuter and medevac versions, the bulk of the orders are for the Spirit. "The Spirit accounts for nearly 70% of our total 73 orders and all of our US orders," he says.
Czech and US certification of the Ae270 is planned for the fourth quarter of 2003 and first quarter of next year, respectively.
Fidransky says Southstar plans to complete supplemental type certification of the interior in March next year, with first deliveries by May.
Meanwhile, Ibis has frozen development of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42-powered Ae270P variant to concentrate on the faster and longer-range 850hp (635kW) PT6A-66-powered model. Fidransky says: "The P accounted for less than 10% of our orders, so it was a financial decision not to proceed."
Source: Flight International
