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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 1328.PDF
orporate aircraft Military manufacturers in Central Europe are having to adapt by developing new products for the North American corporate aviation market JUSTIN WASTNAGE / PRAGUE, LUCERNE & MUNICH s defence budgets around the world collapsed after the end of the Cold War, several military air craft manufacturers saw their markets disappear. Necessity being the mother of invention, new civilian products from three Central European air- framers have been developed for markets that have the potential to be more prof itable than the companies' core business. The growing sales success of the Pilatus PC-12 in the USA vindicates the Swiss manufacturer's decision to produce a sin gle turboprop business aircraft at a time when the conventional wisdom was point ing towards the unchallenged supremacy of twin jets. The demand for turboprop cor- The PC-12's porate aviation is also likely to prove prof- US success itable for Aero Vodochody in the Czech has proved Republic, and for Germany's Grob, both of Pilatus's which are close to delivering small busi- decision to ness aircraft to owner-flyers. build a The trend was set by Pilatus, when it single- launched the PC-12. In the mid-1980s, the turboprop company, which takes its name from the Swiss mountain inside which it was first going to be housed, commissioned market studies into developing a utility aircraft to replace its popular PC-6 Turbo Porter. But Pilatus, which also owned a second range of utility aircraft at that time - the Britten- Norman Islander and Defender - decided to target the emerging business owner-flyer community. Pilatus's Swiss roots meant that it was already an adept exporter. So far, 450 PC-7 turboprop trainers have been sold to air forces across the world and the improved PC-9, developed originally on behalf of the South African air force, has sold twice as many aircraft outside South Africa and Switzerland as inside those countries. Political wrangling Pilatus says it has never been able to count on the support of the Swiss air force, which has always had a policy of buying from European and US manufacturers, and has had to fight the Swiss government all the way as it blocked PC-9 sales, initially to South Africa, and then to Mexico. Switzerland may offer the company export risk guarantees, but provides none of the behind-the-scenes political arm-twisting that other aerospace manufacturers get from their governments. It was this enforced outward viewpoint that allowed xx 30 APRIL - 6 MAY 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL EUROPE SURVEY www.flightinternational.com
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