Aircraft
VLJ fever hasn’t hurt TBM 850
The anticipated production glut of very light jet competition hasn’t yet hurt Socata, which recently announced delivery of its 61st single-engine TBM 850 w

The anticipated production glut of very light jet competition hasn’t yet hurt Socata, which recently announced delivery of its 61st single-engine TBM 850 while noting that the business turboprop has surpassed 100 orders in less than 18 months on the market.

Socata chairman and CEO Jean-Michel Léonard told NBAA Convention News that the French manufacturer’s prospects for this year are “very promising with sales of 50 TBM 850s within reach,” of which 41 are for the U.S. market. New sales are supported by a record backlog and a 19-percent increase in production to around 50 airplanes per year–the highest rate since the TBM program started in 1990.