Italian general aviation manufacturer Oma Sud expects to secure certification for its new SkyCar piston twin in the next few months as it prepares for first deliveries by the year-end.

The company, which demonstrated a mock-up of the SkyCar at Le Bourget four year ago, is displaying the five-seater for the first time at this year's show in a standard passenger configuration.

Domenico Moretta, Oma Sud manager sales and marketing department, programmes management, says the aircraft is on course for certification late this summer or early autumn. "We think we will deliver the first aircraft before the end of the year and start regular deliveries in the first quarter of 2010," he says.

One of its initial launch customers will be a Miami-based aviation charter company, which will deploy the aircraft on charter operations between Miami and the Caribbean- a market for which Moretta believes the SkyCar will be attractive. To exploit this potential it opened a US trade office in Miami two years ago to serve the US and Caribbean markets.

"Its a basic platform idea," adds Moretta. "The fundamental idea was to put together a limousine configuration and apply it to the aeronautical field. We are looking at charter, institutional, govermental, medical [evacuation] and surveillance operations. It's a basic platform and so is easily interchangeable."

Source: Flight Daily News