Pilatus Prepares for Big PC-24 Rollout Party

As Pilatus prepares to roll out the first prototype of its new PC-24 twinjet tomorrow at its factory in Stans, Switzerland–while also celebrating the company’s 75th anniversary on Swiss National Day and the 20th anniversary of the PC-12’s entry-into-service–it confirmed to AIN during a factory tour that it has stopped taking PC-24 orders for now, having announced 84 at EBACE in May.

“This accounts for our complete production capacity in 2017, 2018 and 2019. We elected to hold off taking any orders for 2020 and beyond,” a company spokesman said. “First flight of the aircraft you will see roll out of the factory tomorrow will be in early 2015. Certification and first deliveries will be in 2017.” Pilatus sales and marketing executive Fred Muggli suggested during the factory tour that first flight could be as early as January.

The company will use its 103,300-sq-ft single-span production building, completed in 2008, for PC-24 final assembly. For now the company is producing three PC-24 prototypes–the first, which will be rolled out tomorrow in front of more than 20,000 guests, is already painted and will be based in Stans. The second, once built, will be sent to Honeywell in Phoenix for avionics development, while the third will be a functional test aircraft based in Stans.