Pilatus chairman Oscar Schwenk says that everything is going to plan with the flight test programme of the PC-24. “These programmes are always demanding, and a prototype has the right to be wrong,” he tells EBAN. “You have to be aggressive and demand the best from your aircraft. Two prototypes have been flying since 2015 and the third (P03) joined in March. The interior has been installed in P03 and the cockpit is in for certification. Everything is looking very nice.”

The Australian Flying Doctors were among the first to sign up for the aircraft, and deliveries of aircraft with medevac interior are expected in the second quarter of 2018. Medevac orders have also been placed in Europe, and Pilatus is currently in discussion with new Finnish and Swedish customers.

“We have quite a few customers that come up from the PC-12 and who know us very well,” Schwenk continues. “These are often individuals who own small busin-esses but I think there will be more people flying the PC-12 themselves than the PC-24. Those who buy the PC-24 for a combination of business and pleasure might be pilots but they will always have the safety pilot with them.”

Sales of the PC-12NG increased by 30 per cent last year, with 91 orders reported. “Most of the people ordering the NG are stepping up from the PC-12, for the better engine,” explains Schwenk. “They are selling their old aircraft and at the moment the pre-owned market is small and very good. Very often, secondhand Pilatus are simply not available, or else they are at a very high price. Some people are buying them to put them on the market again and make a profit.

“As for the PC-24, we will see the first deliveries in the fourth quarter of this year. The order book is currently closed, but we plan to re-open it after we have full certification for the aircraft. We promised performance figures at EBACE two years ago, and we will only release the official figures once the programme is concluded. But I can tell you now the figures will be better than predicted.

“We are starting to ramp up now. P03 is the basis for serial production, and production of customer aircraft is already under way. There is a bit of a risk because if you change something on the prototype you have to change it on the whole series. I think from 2020 we will deliver 50 aircraft per year.”