Oriens Aviation is offering three delivery positions on the PC-24, after Pilatus announced last month that it was reopening the order book. Oriens is an exclusive UK and Ireland sales distributor and authorised Pilatus centre, headquartered at London Biggin Hill airport. It has already sold one of the three positions.

Prospective customers still have an opportunity to order and fully customise the next available positions, the first of which is in July 2020. The second available delivery slot is in mid-2021.

Oriens' first PC-24 has been sold to a private UK customer, an existing PC-12 operator. Oriens Aviation CEO Edwin Brenninkmeyer confirms: “Customers interested in the other two are encouraged to commit with deposits and spec their interiors in good time.

“There is no shortage of interest in the PC-24 in the British Isles. We have since taken on those in our region and duly inherited a sizeable base of interest from owners, from both the UK and Ireland,” he adds.

Edwin Brenninkmeyer intends to learn to fly the aircraft, just as he does the Pilatus PC-12, regularly performing demo flights for prospective customers. Oriens has also recruited a highly experienced jet instructor and examiner for the type.

On the MRO side, Oriens Engineering has ramped up its tooling and has been sending engineers to Stans, Switzerland in readiness of adding the twin-engined jet to its Part 145 MRO approvals. It expects to complete this process by the end of the third quarter of this year.