UK operator Ravenair has been awarded a SET AOC for its Pilatus PC-12. The company has been working towards this certification for the last three years, and previously flew single engine ops using a Daher TBM 900. “Over the last year we have gone through the requirements with the UK CAA to add the Pilatus type to our AOC,” highlights operations director Wayne Barrett.

“We have a PC-12NGX based at Manchester and an NG based at Leeds Bradford, both available for passenger charter. The key difference between the PC-12 and the TBM is that the PC-12 has got a larger cabin. The TBM has better speed, and the owner that owns the TBM 900 at Liverpool is trading the aircraft in for a TBM 940, which will be delivered brand-new in October. We are hoping to put that aircraft on our AOC as well. We are also hoping the NGX will be approved this month, through meetings with the CAA and the OEM.”

He is predicting a lot of charter business in the UK and Ireland, as well as into France, Spain, Portugal, Benelux and Germany. The aircraft has good range, depending on the payload it is carrying. “By the end of the year we are hoping to generate a lot of interest in the PC-12 AOC from PC-12 owners, so that they can hire out the aircraft for reward and offset some costs. We have been talking to quite a few owners already.”

Elsewhere, Ravenair has added two 2015 P68TC aircraft to its survey fleet. Barrett concludes: “During the pandemic we have probably been busier on aerial survey than we ever have been, and we currently have a fleet of 16 aircraft operating Part SPO all around the UK and Ireland and into Europe. With fewer airliners in the sky, we have had more free airspace to access, which increased our capture rate for customers.”