Story ID: 490Piaggio
Piaggio Aero Reduces Avanti Maintenance Intervals
By: Chad Trautvetter
Caption: 
Word Count: 204
Piaggio Aero announced a reduced maintenance program for Avanti I/IIs here at EBACE, extending the heavy inspection intervals for the twin turboprop. Under the new inspection schedule, C and D checks–previously due at 1,500 and 3,000 hours, respectively–have been stretched to 1,800 and 3,600 hours. According to Piaggio, this allows operators to align the airframe inspection schedule with that for the aircraft’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-66A engines.

“The approval of the new maintenance program has been enabled following an extensive study of reliability data gathered over 800,000 flight hours accumulated by the worldwide fleet of Piaggio Avanti I/IIs flying a variety of mission profiles,” said Piaggio Aero vice president of worldwide customer support Paolo Ferreri. “We are constantly seeking ways to provide savings for our aircraft customers and we are confident that these extended maintenance times will do just that.”

The C- and D-check extension comes on the heels of recent efforts to extend other maintenance intervals for the Avanti I/II. Last year, A checks were reclassified as a “light inspection and servicing” operation and pushed to 200 from 150 hours. Earlier this year, Piaggio stretched the time between Avanti landing gear overhauls from 10 to 12 years.