3 DECEMBER 2018

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Article from BTNews 3 DECEMBER 2018

Piaggio in administration

With the future of Alitalia less assured than ever, the future of Italy's sole stand-alone aircraft manufacturer, after the company asked the Italian government to be put under special administration.

Piaggio said last week it made the request after a 2017 turnaround plan “failed to produce the expected results”. A statement added: “The prolonged uncertainty and present market conditions make the company no longer financially sustainable.”

Also last year, Piaggio started talks to sell its executive P180 turbojet business to the Chinese state-owned consortium PAC Investments, a move that raised concerns over the transfer of sensitive technology and potential loss of jobs.

As Flight magazine reported last week, with orders for business aircraft dwindling, Piaggio’s owners turned to the defence and special missions market to secure the firm’s future.

At the Paris air show in 2013, the company unveiled an unmanned surveillance variant of its P180 Avanti which it called the P1HH HammerHead, which awakened interest in the market, including the United Arab Emirates.

Piaggio started developing a more advanced version, known as the P2HH, for delivery in 2023 but, reported Flight, the new government in Rome appears to have lost interest and sales for the third and latest Evo version of the Avanti have remained sluggish.

www.piaggioaerospace.it

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