Piaggio Racks Up an Order Backlog With Its Sexy P.180 Avanti Turboprop

Piaggio sees "two-thirds to three-quarters" of its future sales in North America, according to Steve Hanvey, president of Piaggio America.

Rescued from the edge of shutdown at the end of 1998, by a group of investors led by Piero Ferrari of Italy's sports and racing car dynasty, Piaggio is gradually rebuilding production of its unique Avanti and reintroducing the type to the U.S. market.

Interest in the Avanti--now officially endorsed by Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher--is running high. "People talk about a slowdown, but we haven't seen that at all," says Hanvey. "We have an overwhelming number of people wanting demo flights. Customers get out and say 'Wow!'. People have no idea that the airplane will go as fast as we say it will, and assume that it's not big inside because it doesn't look big on the outside."

The twin-PT6-engined Avanti's three-surface lay-out endows it with Citation-like speed and altitude (395 knots, Mach 0.7 and 41,000 feet) and the cabin cross-section of a midsize jet, at a small-jet price of under $5 million. With its aft-mounted main wing, barbel-like foreplane and small-diameter pusher propellers, it is not easily mistaken for any other aircraft.

You can also expect to have the only Avanti on your block for a while. There are 18 Avantis in the U.S., and deliveries are available at the end of the first quarter of next year, says Hanvey. Production in 2000 will total 15 aircraft, increasing to two per month early next year. If sales hold up, Piaggio will build 30-36 aircraft in 2003.

Exclusivity is not wholly an advantage for a business airplane. Hanvey acknowledges frankly that product support and Piaggio's long-term future are concerns for would-be customers, and says that Piaggio America has worked hard on support in its first

year of operations. The company has signed support agreements with JetWorks of Dallas, Stevens Aviation and Aeromech; boosted its parts inventory-"it's doubling every month", says Hanvey -- and is supporting maintenance training.

Piaggio America is "an integral part of the company", says Hanvey, because of the need to support the North American fleet, and because 60-70% of the Avanti's parts come from North America. The U.S. company will play a leading role in plans to update the Avanti's avionics-today's standard configuration is the layout with which the aircraft was initially certificated, and some components are already hard to find. A TCAS retrofit is currently being certificated. "The current avionics are very good, but we're looking at cost reductions with new technology," says Hanvey.

The profile of Piaggio's potential customer base has been a little surprising. "We anticipated that about two-thirds of our customers would be move-ups from Barons, PC-12s and King Airs," says Hanvey, but a majority of customers are looking at the aircraft as a replacement for older jets or a large-cabin alternative to an entry-level jet. One customer replaced a Challenger with an Avanti. One encouraging sign: "We're starting to get enquiries from Fortune 500 flight departments"-normally the most conservative of customers-"and we have sold two aircraft to $1 billion-plus corporations." There has been "some interest, but not a lot" from single-pilot owner-operators.

Piaggio America is exploring the U.S. government market. "We're committed to a non-traditional market", says Hanvey. With its speed, altitude and endurance, combined with low vibration and an unusually clear field of view for cabin-mounted sensors, the Avanti has some interesting potential, in the company's view, for surveillance and other special missions.

-Bill Sweetman