Tue, Jul 28, 2009
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..."
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