Aircraft
Piper moving ahead with Imprimis backing
Since Brunei-based Imprimis bought Piper Aircraft

Since Brunei-based Imprimis bought Piper Aircraft in 2009, the company has seen almost a complete replacement of its leadership ranks and subsequently a redesign of the renamed PiperJet Altaire and a commitment to driving more sales outside the stagnant U.S. marketplace. At one time Piper had orders for as many as 200 PiperJets, but Randy Groom, Piper’s executive vice president, said that number has dropped to 157.

More recently, Piper announced that it has terminated its business relationship with Czech Sport Aircraft and will no longer market the Czech company’s light sport aircraft as the PiperSport. “After a year working with Czech Sport Aircraft, Piper determined that it is in our company’s best long-term interests to discontinue the business relationship which distributed a light sport aircraft manufactured by the Czech company and distributed under Piper’s brand by a separate distributor network," said Piper CEO Geoffrey Berger. “Clearly, the company has a different business perspective and approach to the market than Czech Sport Aircraft.”