Newsletters
Piaggio Aerospace, now under Turkish drone maker Baykar's ownership, will increase P180 aircraft production capacity from approximately five aircraft per year to 25-30 per year and introduce a new "Avanti Next" model with modernized avionics and interiors.
"A new era for Piaggio Aerospace marks a milestone in the strong Türkiye-Italy partnership. With our shared vision in aviation and defense, we will continue taking innovative steps in technology and production, reinforce closer cooperation and advance civilian projects," Haluk Bayraktar, chairman of the board of Piaggio Aerospace and general manager of Baykar, said on X on late Monday.
Bayraktar said Piaggio, with its 140-year history, has built countless aircraft within the Italian aviation industry.
"This is a very important legacy for Baykar. Combining our technologies with Piaggio offered a unique advantage and potential to bring together the strengths of Türkiye and Italy," Bayraktar said.
He noted that Piaggio operates two facilities—one for manufacturing the P180 light transport aircraft and the other for producing engine parts and carrying out engine maintenance.
"With all the capabilities and expertise, it has a very unique aircraft. It's the world's fastest turboprop aircraft and has a unique design. When Piaggio's facilities, capabilities, talents, heritage, and brand name are combined with Baykar's new innovations in the field of UAVs, we see a bright future," Bayraktar said.
Bayraktar said the P180 is a special aircraft, though production capacity has remained low in recent years. Baykar aims to revive operations and increase output.
"We currently produce about 4-5 aircraft per year, but next year this number will increase. We will increase P180 Avanti aircraft production capacity to 25 to 30 aircraft per year. Because existing facilities, production setup and supply chain support allow us to produce 25-30 aircraft per year," Bayraktar said.
"As Baykar, we are committed to new investments, new updates, and making this aircraft attractive again. We are determined to ensure it gets its share of the market," he added.
"Looking at the world in general, Piaggio has produced more than 250 P180 aircraft to date, and 220 of them have been actively flying since 1986. So it's a very reliable and robust aircraft. The entire fleet has accumulated over 1.1 million flight hours in total," Bayraktar said.
Bayraktar said Baykar wants to innovate and bring updates to keep the aircraft at the highest level.
"In this context, we are investing heavily in system updates and modernizing the avionics. The entire industry is switching to Garmin avionics. We have started our work and will implement Garmin avionics updates in the systems," Bayraktar said.
"We will renovate interiors and modernize Italian design and aesthetics. New interior designs will emerge. We already have digital cabin pressurization systems and new environmental control systems. We have new satellite communication technologies on the aircraft. We are working on increasing maintenance intervals and inspection periods," he added.
Bayraktar said all these updates will result in the "Avanti Next" model.
Bayraktar said the company is also investing in aircraft service operations.
"More than 220 aircraft are actively flying worldwide. About 100 of them are in the U.S., about 100 in Europe, and the rest are flying around the world. Maintenance, repair and overhaul operations are very, very critical," he said.
"As Baykar, with the new management, we are truly committed to our customers' requirements and demands. We will make fundamental investments in customer service not only in Europe but also in the U.S. Because the US is the biggest market. When you look at civil aviation, the U.S. is the most developed country, and they use these types of aircraft intensively. That's why we are investing in our presence in the U.S.," he added.
Bayraktar said Piaggio is revitalizing agreements with existing service centers.
"We recently signed an authorized service center agreement with Interjet Continental Aerospace, and more will follow. Very soon, we will do the same with repair centers and sign authorized repair center agreements. We also want to establish a logistics center within a year to provide much faster service to customers in the U.S. Spare parts availability will be much higher than it is now. All of these are within our plans," Bayraktar said.
"The U.S. is definitely the leading market in civil aviation, and this is also true for the P180 aircraft. We are really listening to our customers, the aircraft owners in the U.S. We are talking to them and communicating with them, and they really admire this aircraft. They are literally in love with this aircraft's design, performance, speed, and cabin comfort. Listening to them really surprises us. That's why making our U.S. operations much better than they are now is our top priority," he added.
Bayraktar said Baykar and Piaggio are working on new initiatives by combining Piaggio's civil aviation expertise with Baykar's agile engineering staff, including UAV production at Piaggio facilities.
"We have the capacity to bring UAV manufacturing to Piaggio facilities. Within our ongoing joint venture with Leonardo, we plan to localize UAV manufacturing in Italy to serve Europe's needs," Bayraktar said.
Piaggio already conducts maintenance and repair operations for several different engines.
"We want to add additional engine maintenance and repair capabilities by bringing investments with new engine alternatives. We very much want to invest in machinery and equipment, this is already in our plans for this year. We will invest in machinery to increase engine parts production and maintenance and repair capacities," Bayraktar said.
Set as preferred source
1 min read
