Piper Aircraft reported an 11 percent increase in revenue in the first half of 2013 compared to the first half of 2012 at EAA AirVenture.
Piper delivered 86 aircraft in the first half of the year, compared with 76 deliveries in the same span of 2012. Revenue for the period rose from $69 million to $77 million, the company reported. Piper also announced that Airline Transport Professionals (ATP) has exercised options for 10 Piper Archer TXs to be delivered in 2014.
“I’m pleased to say that Piper has been on a very steady upward trend for the last three and a half years,” said Piper CEO Simon Caldecott in a press conference July 29. He said all new aircraft except the Arrow are now leaving the factory with the Garmin G1000 avionics suite as a standard installation.
The company had planned for a lower number of deliveries in the first quarter of 2013 because it was going through the certification of the G1000 for three aircraft, Caldecott said. Piper received supplemental type certificates to install the avionics in the Archer, Seneca V, and Seminole in 2013. Deliveries of the Archer jumped from zero in the first quarter to 23 in the second. Deliveries of the Seneca V jumped from one to six. Four Seminoles were delivered in the first quarter and six in the second, although the effects of the Garmin installation may remain to be seen; Piper announced the STC in late June.
Caldecott emphasized his company’s involvement in the training market in the press conference, noting that he made a commitment to become more involved in the market 18 months ago. Piper and ATP announced at EAA AirVenture that the flight school has exercised options for 10 additional Archer TXs from a 100-airplane deal announced earlier this year. With the latest order, ATP has ordered 25 of the single-engine training aircraft in 2013, leaving options for 75 more. All of the new ATP airplanes will be equipped with Garmin G500 avionics suites, according to Piper.
Piper said in a media release that the Archer order is in addition to a 30-airplane Seminole fleet option placed with Piper by ATP in 2011, and that ATP is transitioning its fleet to predominantly Piper training aircraft.
