The new turbodiesel Cessna Skyhawk is proving to be a hot item and ten have been ordered by Ethiopian Airlines through Africair, Cessna’s authorised African representative.

Cessna announced the diesel option for the Model 172S at the US Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association annual Expo in October. It’s also designed to run on Jet A fuel, which is cheaper and more widely available than Avgas.

The aircraft will replace Ethiopian’s current training fleet of 10 Cessna 172XPs due to the lower operating cost provided by the Jet A-1 powered aircraft and its Garmin G1000 avionics, says Bob Gibbs, Cessna’s director of international propeller aircraft sales.

“These aircraft will be used in ab initio airline training and represent the first fleet of the new Skyhawk TDs ordered by a major airline training school. We feel the early acceptance of this aircraft in the training market is the beginning of a trend we are confident will continue to spread throughout the world,” Gibbs says.

Established in 1964, Ethiopian Airlines’ Pilot Training School, based in Addis Ababa, is one of the premier training organizations in Africa. Africair is the Cessna distributor for 41 countries in Africa and has been selling and supporting the full range of Cessna


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Source: Flight Daily News