COMMERCIAL P2012 TRAVELLER
T
he P2012 Traveller, the
latest product from
Tecnam, is quite different
from preceding aircraft
from the Italian company.
The success of the
Tecnam brand has come
from the production of
light and ultralight aircraft
for general aviation, ying
schools and leisure ying. However, with
the P2012 the company decided to create a
more complex aircraft to meet the needs of
commercial aviation.
Stefano Mavilio, Tecnam’s Marketing
and Communications Manager, told
AIR International: “The P2012 has 11
seats, is equipped with two piston
engines and xed landing gear, and
was commissioned by a US regional
company, Cape Air, which operates in the
Boston area and in Massachusetts.”Cape Air is one of the major airlines
operating in the regional air transport market,
with a eet of 89 aircraft that every day
carry out 525 ights, mainly in the eastern
United States, transporting about 686,000
passengers per year. Some years ago, it
needed to replace its ageing Cessna 402C
eet, which was reaching the end of its
operational life and whose maintenance costs
were becoming more expensive.
Since Cessna did not appear interested in
producing a new aircraft in that class, Cape
Air contacted Tecnam to start the design of a
completely new aircraft tailored to its needs:
a mini commuter aircraft with 11 seats and
piston engines to cover short routes with ight
times of between 20 and 90 minutes. Another
requirement of the new design was to a xed
landing gear to save weight and maintenance
costs and reduce development time.
Mavilio said: “Cape Air follows closely the
development of this project, and it is verysatis ed with the results so far, and of the
programme timings, because the earlier they
can start to operate the new aircraft, the
earlier they start to save on the eet operating
costs.”First ight
The rst prototype of the P2012 Traveller,
I-PTFC, was rolled out on April 21, 2016, and
undertook its maiden ight from the unpaved
runway of Capua air eld on July 21, 2016,
piloted by Tecnam’s test pilot, Lorenzo De
Stefano, a former test pilot in the Aeronautica
Militare (Italian Air Force).
On November 15, 2016, Dan Wolf,
founder and Chief Executive Of cer of
Cape Air, had the opportunity to y the
Traveller with De Stefano. After the ight,Riccardo Niccoli profi les the Tecnam P2012 Traveller,
an aircraft with few competitors in its market segment
Tecnam’s Traveller
The P2012 Traveller’s fi rst fl ight was on July 21, 2016.
By July, this prototype, I-PTFC, had logged more than
150 fl ight hours, with a second prototype due to fl y
later this year. All photos Tecnam unless stated