INTELLIGENCE

摘要

PILATUS HAS RECEIVED FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certifications for its PC-24 twin-engine business jet, the Swiss company announced. The certifications pave the way for initial customer deliveries. The first PC-24 was scheduled to be delivered to PlaneSense, a U.S. fractional ownership company, in December. Pilatus has taken orders for an initial block of 84 aircraft, which include six to PlaneSense. PlaneSense plans to buy additional PC-24s once Pilatus reopens its orderbook in 2018. Pilatus currently has eight PC-24s on the assembly line in Stans, Switzerland, with plans to deliver 23 jets throughout 2018, it said. "The PC-24 is the first-ever Pilatus business jet," Chairman Oscar Schwenk said. "Naturally, the requirements associated with obtaining certification for this sort of aircraft are extremely rigorous, and I need hardly mention that we faced some big challenges." In 2013, Pilatus launched the program and announced the aircraft would be ready in 2017, he said. "We have achieved data promised to our first 84 customers have been aircraft competes with the Citation CJ4 and Phenom a maximum range of 2,035 nm with four passengers, made its first flight in May 2015.