Press Release
Issued by Daher Aerospace.
May 16, 2011
During its presence at this week's European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva, DAHER-SOCATA is officially introducing Aviastec as the company's TBM aircraft sales representative and service center for Spain and Portugal.
Aviastec is headquartered at Oviedo in the Spanish principality of Asturias, with its main maintenance base at Madrid's Cuatro Vientos Airport – which provides a fully-authorized Part 145 and CAMO PLUS service center. The company has a workforce of 35 aviation professionals consisting of 20 EASA technicians, engineers, pilots and sales representatives.
"We are pleased to further expand our sales and service center network with such a dynamic and experienced company as Aviastec, which has more than 20 years of expertise in aircraft support and marketing," stated Nicolas Chabbert, Senior Vice President of the DAHER-SOCATA Airplane Division. We're confident their expertise and market knowledge will help us to develop TBM sales in southern Europe."
Aviastec's pilot has recently been trained on the TBM 850 and demonstration tours will soon begin in Spain and Portugal.
"There is significant interest in the TBM 850 and we already have received numerous inquiries, as the current economic trend favors such a cost effective aircraft," said Santiago Rodriguez Sanchez del Rio, Aviastec's Chief Executive Officer. "We also are very proud to have been selected by DAHER-SOCATA, which celebrates 100 years of aircraft manufacturing excellence in 2011."
DAHER-SOCATA's TBM 850 is the world's fastest single-engine turboprop with a maximum cruise speed of 320 KTAS at 26,000 ft. (in ISA conditions). Both the TBM 850 and the company's TBM 700 combine the cruise speed and travel times typical of light jets with economical direct operating costs, while offering the range and excellent payload capacity of turboprop aircraft.
The TBM 700 and TBM 850 fleet now stands at 551 aircraft. As of April 30, 2011, the total flight time of these aircraft exceeded 830,000 flight hours.