Pilatus Aircraft this week delivered the 2000th example of the PC-12 single-engined turbo-prop.
The aircraft was presented to US fractional ownership company PlaneSense, and comes 32 years after the type was first introduced in 1991.
"Year after year, our PC -12 is, and will remain, the world’s best-selling single-engine turbo-prop aircraft in its class with a pressurised cabin," said Pilatus CEO Markus Bucher at a handover ceremony in Stans, Switzerland.
"We have continually developed our bestseller over the years and the current PC-12 is state of the art. Today, I’m very proud that I and my team are able to hand over the 2000th PC-12 to our exceptionally loyal and faithful customer PlaneSense.
"I’m grateful that we can count this very professional company among our customers. PlaneSense is an important part of the PC-12’s history, demonstrating day in, day out, that our proven, reliable and safe aircraft is ideally suited to the most demanding of missions.
"Quite simply, it’s the best aircraft in its class!”
The PC-12 is used for business travel, transport operations, medevac, emergency missions and search and rescue flights. The global fleet has already clocked up over ten million hours in the air.
Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service was the launch customer for the type and is still one of the largest operators in the world, with 34 in the fleet nationally.
Last year, Pilatus rolled-out 80 PC-12 NGX airframes, leading the SETP category over the Cessna Caravan series, of which 71 were manufactured in 2022.