Aero-TV Profiles All Things Piper: The NBAA Update (Part 1)

One Of GA's Legacy Manufacturers Wasn't Bashful About Looking To The Future We thought that the presser that Piper conducted at NBAA 2008 might hold a few clues as to their future and that, combined with other interview material, might make for an interesting overview as a revitalized Piper heads into 2009. Jim Bass, President of Piper Aircraft announced during the 2008 NBAA Convention that, against declining industry-wide sales of piston aircraft, Piper's piston sales were up through the 3rd quarter of '08. At a time when General Aviationâ??s overall piston-aircraft deliveries are down, Piper Aircraft underscored its comparative string of successes by noting that its piston aircraft deliveries were up 24 percent for the 3rd Quarter of 2008. The company also that announced overall deliveries for the first nine months of 2008 were up 18 percent over the same period last year, and that its upline PA-46 models are registering record deliveries. "In the last three years, Piper has moved forward on virtually every front -- from new product introductions to strong sales, from strategic alliances to breaking into an entirely new segment with our all-new PiperJet," said Piper President & CEO James K. Bass. "We are a modern-day, American success story: a company that relies on American workers to provide the next generation aircraft for the world." Piperâ??s current piston increases are driven by the unparalleled -- and, for some, unexpected -- success of its cabin-class Piper Matrix, a decontented model off the Malibu Mirage platform. It appears Piper correctly predicted the market for an the unpressurized, six-seat aircraft... as to date, the model has accounted for close to half of the company's 195 aircraft deliveries in the first nine months of 2008. That number compares favorably against the 166 aircraft Piper delivered over the same period in 2007. Of that total, 76 were from deliveries of the Piper Matrix. The Vero Beach, FL-based planemaker also reported sales of its entire PA-46 model line (Meridian, ...