Pilatus Chief Predicts Delivery Increase

Pilatus PC-12 deliveries will have picked up to a total of 45 to 50 aircraft by the end of this year, predicts Thomas Bosshard, president of U.S.-based Pilatus Business Aircraft. "Traditionally, and unlike most manufacturers, we deliver more aircraft in the second half of the year," says Bosshard. First-half deliveries were down to 17 aircraft, compared with 24 in the first half of 2001, he says.

Bosshard took over as head of Pilatus' U.S. subsidiary, which sells and supports the PC-12 throughout the Americas, earlier this year. The new president is leading a new marketing charge that tackles prospective customers' fears of single-engine airplanes. The tough-talking campaign calls the supposed greater safety of twins a "cult" supported by "ego-filled circles" and asserts that engine mechanical failures in modern turboprops are "essentially nonexistent."