Pilatus aircraft sales passes one billion Swiss Francs

PC-24

Pilatus the Swiss-based manufacturer of business jets, achieved sales last year of 1.12 billion Swiss francs ($1.17 billion), slightly down from 1.17 billion Swiss francs in 2014. However, the results marked the third time yearly sales topped 1 billion Swiss francs.

Operating income slipped last year to 191 million Swiss francs from 200 million Swiss francs from the previous year. Pilatus sold 121 aircraft in 2015, compared with 127 in 2014. However, orders soared to 1,367 last year from 561 in 2014.

Pilatus is also investing nearly 150 million Swiss francs in infrastructure and research and development costs.

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The largest fleet order was received from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which ordered 49 PC-21s in December last year. The PC-21 will be used to train the RAAF’s future military pilots.

In 2015, Pilatus built and delivered 121 aircraft to customers all over the world. An estimated half were civilian models, the remainder were trainer aircraft. The civilian market has shown  signs of struggle following the financial and economic crisis of 2008. In 2015, Pilatus delivered a total of 70 PC-12 NGs.

North America, to which 49 PC-12 NGs were delivered, was by far the most important market, generating two-thirds of overall sales revenue.

Oscar J. Schwenk, chairman of the board of directors, said: “I am proud that our 2015 results are an almost seamless continuation of last year’s record results – and in Swiss francs, it must be said, one of the world’s strongest currencies.

“That is no small achievement, and absolutely not something to be taken for granted. We are a company that believes in Switzerland as a centre of vision and action, and we fully intend to continue to expand our operations here in Switzerland in the future.”