Piper Jet Still On The Horizon

By Jennifer Staretorp

"It's about change!" says Bob Kromer, VP of Sales and Marketing for Piper Aircraft. The company was recently acquired by the private company Imprimis, and has been charging ahead at full speed ever since. The acquisition marked the beginning of a series of changes that Piper has made, including the promotion of Kevin Gould to CEO, and John Becker to President. Piper and Imprimis have been working hard to develop a three-part strategy for the future of the company. The strategic plan includes upgrading current product lines as well as resurrecting past favorites, expanding their worldwide sales, and injecting funds into the development of the Piper Jet.

On the list of new products from Piper is the Garmin G1000 that is now available for the Piper Meridian. The Meridian has seen 10 deliveries since March of this year. Piper also announced the release of the new composite Hartzell "Top Prop" for the PA-46 Mirage and Piper Matrix. Bob Kromer also announced the addition of the new Garmin G600 as the avionics suite in their primary trainers. The addition of the G600 to those particular aircraft is part of an effort to refocus on the production of trainers. As part of this effort the company has revamped one of their classic trainers, the Piper Archer. Aside from the G600, the Archer will showcase a selection of new features at a cost of $300,000. The Archer is expected to roll out in 2010.

When Stephen Berger, Managing Director for Imprimis said, "We will provide resources to allow Piper to grow," it applied not only to the company, but to the Piper Jet as well. Imprimis' involvement and excitement for the aircraft has allowed Piper to make huge strides with the jet. As part of their effort to invigorate the production of the jet they will be reworking the production schedule to speed up the process. One of the most exciting new features was the adaptation of a unique variable thrust vectored nozzle. The nozzle is a passive system that adjusts the vector based on the amount of pressure coming in through it. Currently there are 200 orders placed on the Piper Jet. To date, the Piper Jet prototype has made 130 flights and accumulated 200 hours. The production date for the jet will be released in October.

Piper plans on expanding their global efforts and break into new markets where they currently do not have a presence. Their first move includes establishing a presence in Brunei, Darussalam where the Imprimis headquarters. Stephen Berger believes that Brunei provides a great opportunity for the company, as there is a large aviation infrastructure in place that is under-utilized by commercial aviation. At the moment Piper has no plan in place for relocating to Brunei and will be staying at their Vero Beach, FL headquarters, but say that they are not ruling anything out.

"It's a new day at Piper..."

FMI: www.Piper.com