BUSINESS AVIATION
20 | Flight International | 10-16 December 2019 flightglobal.comI
talian airframer Tecnam has
delivered the first P2012 Travel-
ler to Seychelles-based charter
company Zil Air, from a 2018
order for up to three of the high-
wing piston-twins.
The aircraft and its three-
strong crew arrived at Zil Air’s
facility on the island of Mahe on
29 November following a six-day,
4,500nm (8,330km) ferry flight
from Tecnam’s headquarters in
Capua, near Naples.
Zil Air is now preparing the
Lycoming TEO-540-C1A-pow-
ered Traveller for service entry
this month, when it will join the
company’s fleet of fixed- and
rotary-wing aircraft.
Cirium fleets data records Zil
Air as operating five Airbus
Helicopters H120s, one H145, a
Vulcanair P68C piston-twin and
a Beechcraft King Air 250 twin-
engined turboprop.Tecnam says it “embraced Zil
Air as a partner from day one”,
with the two companies working
together to customise the all-
metal, short take-off and landing
aircraft to the carrier’s “exact re-
quirements”. Key features of this
model include air-conditioning,
nine bespoke passenger seats
with power sockets, storage, “ex-
cellent leg space and uninterrupt-
ed views from each window”.
The company is now working
with Tecnam to develop a modu-
lar, quick-change air ambulance
interior for the aircraft.
Tecnam’s managing director,
Giovanni Pascale, calls the new
delivery “another great achieve-
ment” for the airframer, with the
Traveller demonstrating its “qual-
ities in warm, hot countries”, as
well as in “cold climates” – a
reference the aircraft’s US-based
launch customer, Cape Air.The Hyannis, Massachusetts-
based regional airline has taken
delivery of four Travellers since
the first example arrived earlier
this year and is preparing the air-
craft for service entry by end-- Cape Air has orders and op-
tions for 110 Travellers, to replace
its decades-old Cessna 402Cs.
“We plan to ship another four
Travellers to Cape Air this
month and 12 more examples in
2020,” says Tecnam’s global
sales and marketing director,
Walter da Costa.
He adds that the company has
secured an “impressive” order
backlog for its €2.2 million ($2.
million) flagship, with a further
13 Travellers scheduled for
delivery next year to new inter-
national customers. ■B
ombardier is stepping up its
commitment to helping re-
duce the carbon footprint of
business aviation, with its head-
quarters in Montreal becoming
the first facility outside the USA
to take delivery of sustainable
aviation fuel (SAF).
The arrival of 27,600 litres
(7,300USgal) of cooking oil-based
biofuel at the Dorval manufactur-
ing plant also represents anotherstep in the airframer’s ambition to
secure a long-term supply of SAF
across its global facilities, as
sustainable fuel becomes more
readily available.
The shipment to Montreal
will fuel new deliveries of
Challenger 350 and 650 business
jets, but Bombardier says it will
boost the supply next year to in-
clude shipments of new Global
6000, 6500 and 7500 aircraft.DELIVERY KATE SARSFIELD LONDONInitial P2012 Traveller arrives for Zil Air
Seychelles charter company receives first example of Tecnam’s flagship piston-twin, for entry into service this month
Italian airframer says it has built up large backlog for high-wing type
TecnamEMISSIONS KATE SARSFIELD LONDONSustainable fuel initiative cooking at Bombardier
Aircraft including Challenger 350s will be delivered powered by SAF
“We are proud to offer [SAF] for
the first time at one of our
Canadian facilities, and it’s only
the beginning,” says David Coleal,
president of Bombardier Aviation.
He says Bombardier is “work-
ing toward ensuring that the use
of these fuels becomes a standard
in our day-to-day operations as we
do our part to reduce CO2 emis-
sions worldwide, and meet the
industry climate pledge”.
In 2009, the business aviation
community developed an aggres-
sive programme in support of
ICAO environmental goals. Its
targets include achieving carbon-
neutral growth by 2020, and a re-
duction in total CO2 emissions of
50% by 2050 relative to 2005.
Since 2017, Bombardier has
maintained a supply of biofuel at
its Hartford, Connecticut facility.
This is home to its customer dem-
onstration fleet, which Bombar-dier flies to airshows and events to
raise industry awareness, demon-
strating that SAF can be a "main-
stream drop-in alternative to tradi-
tional jet fuel" for turbine aircraft.
“At Bombardier, we build our
aircraft with the future in mind,”
Coleal says, pointing to the new
Rolls-Royce Pearl 15, which was
purpose built for the recently cer-
tificated Global 5500 and 6500. He
says the 15,125lb (67.3kN)-thrust
turbofan makes the long-range
twins “cleaner and more efficient,
with an up to 13% fuel-burn ad-
vantage, contributing to highly fa-
vourable operating costs”.
Similarly, he says, the GE
Aviation Passport engine, de-
signed specifically for the flag-
ship Global 7500, powers the
ultra-long-range business jet “to
speeds of up to Mach 0.925 with
dependable reliability and great-
er fuel efficiency”. ■Bombardier