The dearth of orders (only five) for the lower-powered Ae270P turboprop single compared with the higher-powered Ae270HP and the difficulties inherent in running two programs at once have led Ibis Aerospace, the joint venture of Czech Aero Vodochody and AIDC of Taiwan, to focus its efforts on the Ae270HP instead. Subsequently, the Ae270P orders were all converted to -HP orders, giving that model a total order book of 69.
“If we had continued with the -P model first,” explained Jeff Conrad, v-p of marketing, “we probably would have obtained Czech certification by the middle of next year and -HP certification a year later. Now we’ll get Czech certification of the -HP model in September next year and FAA approval by the end of the year. However, certification work on the -P model is not canceled, just suspended. If there is market interest in the -P after the -HP is certified, we will restart the -P model’s certification.”
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