Piper Aircraft today finalized an agreement with long-time customer FlightSafety Academy for at least 26 trainers. The order was formally placed shortly before Piper president and CEO Simon Caldecott held a press conference on July 20 at the EAA AirVenture 2015 show. The contract includes 20 Warriors that will be delivered from September through December and another six Piper Arrows slated to be delivered next year.
It is part of a fleet replenishment agreement that includes options for an additional 20 Warriors. The deal continues a decades-long relationship between the Vero Beach, Fla. aviation training firm and neighboring aircraft manufacturer.
The deal was announced just a few days after Piper announced plans to lay off 15 to 20 percent of its work force. It will not alter Piper's production or layoff plans, Caldecott said. He noted that negotiations on the sale had been in the works for some time and had been accounted for in its planning. Other potential fleet sales are on the horizon, but he said these too were factored into its decision.
Caldecott reiterated that he is optimistic about the future, but the slow and/or uncertain markets in Asia, Europe and Latin America had forced Piper to make the “agonizing decision” to lay off workers and slow production to meet demand. He maintained the company is moving ahead with its research and development efforts, including the new M600 unveiled earlier this year. The company has completed development flight testing and is working with the FAA on a certification plan as it moves into certification flight testing. Caldecott said the six-seat turboprop will come to market fully certified, including flight into known icing.
He also noted the collaboration with Hartzell for new five-blade props for the Meridian and M500. The M600, however, will be developed with a four-blade propeller with the possibility of a STC for a five-blade option later.
Piper further has teamed with Garmin to develop a Piper-specific “Piper Pilot” app. Based on the Garmin Pilot iOS app, Piper Pilot will enable users to file flight pans and receive en route navigation on an interactive map. It also will provide weather, advanced traffic and pilot logbook features. Piper is developing other features for pre-flight planning. The app will be available in September. Piper will provide a two-year subscription to new M-Class purchasers.