Considering we came back from the brink of Chapter 11 protection, we have achieved major milestones. Jose Di Mase
Piaggio Aero is playing up its Italian heritage as it looks to a bright future for its P180 Avanti twin-pusher turboprop. It recently delivered its 100th aircraft and is looking ahead to the launch of the new Rockwell-Collins Pro Line 21 avionics-equipped Avanti II at the NBAA show in New Orleans later this year.
Chief executive Jose Di Mase says the combination of style and substance that is the hallmark of bespoke Italian engineering and design expertise is a major attraction as the company eyes greater opportunities on a global scale.
Which is why he is dismissive of expanding production beyond Italy and entering the mass-produced very light jet (VLJ) category.
He likened the Avanti to a stylish Ferrari, to which it is of course linked through investor Piero Ferrari, and promised there would be new product development in future, but would not be drawn on exact details.
Asked if he could venture another automotive analogy to describe the new product under consideration - perhaps a Maserati Quattroporte - he smiles and says: "It will be a convenient upscaled aircraft."
But it won't be a GIV competitor, points out Tom Appleton, president and chief executive of Piaggio Aero in America, which accounts for around 75% of the Avanti sales.
Di Mase says the target split between the North American and global markets is ideally 50:50, and reports significant interest for the aircraft from markets as far away as Australia and China.
The challenge is seen not so much in the sales arena but capacity. Piaggio is opening a factory in Villanova di Albenga, between its Genoa assembly plant, which it is keeping, and the French border. The new facility replaces the 90-year-old plant in Finale Ligure.
The rise in production will result in a modest increase in workforce.
Apart from the P180, the company is responsible for the out-of-production P166 twin-propeller reconnaissance aircraft and carries out a range of engine maintenance and subassembly work on Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce engines.
It also manufactures aerostructures, including the tail section for the Dassault Falcon 2000 and the centre wing box for the Lockheed Martin/Alenia C-27J transport.
Di Mase says: "Considering we came back from the brink of Chapter 11 protection, we have achieved major milestones."
Piero Ferrari, vice-president of the car manufacturer, and fellow investors acquired the assets and name of the 120-year-old engineering company, after an ill-fated $300 million investment in a joint venture with Lear which would have seen a factory built in the US, plunged the company into receivership in 1994.
Source: Flight Daily News
