For the first time, a business jet has landed on the grass runway of Venice-Lido, the airport closest to the Italian city of Venice. The flight aboard a PC-24 at the end of March provided the fastest connection ever to Venice city centre.

The Venice-Lido city airport is located about three kilometres east of the city centre on the Lido di Venezia. The PC-24 landed safely on the grass runway 05/23 of just under 1,000 metres. The city centre is a few minutes from the airport. The PC-24 is one of the only business jets in the world to be able to fly into such airfields. The combination of a high cruising speed and the ability to use short strips, and even unpaved runways, delivers a new level of mobility and time savings, according to the OEM.

The PC-24's performance on short and unpaved runways opens up flexibility and new possibilities. It means the PC-24 gives operators access to almost twice as many airfields worldwide compared to other business jets currently on the market. With the PC-24, operators can fly closer to their final destination, avoiding the usual formalities at large airports and reducing transfers on the ground to an absolute minimum, saving time.

From the outset, the PC-24 was developed for use on rough field strips. This means the PC-24 is the first business jet to be able to take off from and land on dry sand and gravel, as well as grass, wet earth and snow.

Besides its unique takeoff and landing capabilities, the PC-24 also boasts a spacious cabin that can be modified to suit personal requirements. The current fleet of over 100 PC-24s flies missions daily on every continent: as a medevac aircraft in Australia and Alaska, for example, as a business jet in the US and for a German automobile manufacturer, as a government aircraft in South Africa and also for the Swiss government.