credits: Piper Aircraft Inc
Piper has extended the warranty on its M600 to reflect the higher-than-expected utilisation rates and longer stage lengths of the single-engined turboprop’s in-service fleet.The extension means that M600 owners will enjoy warranty coverage up to 1,500 hours or five years, an increase from the original five-year, 1,000-hour coverage based on performance and utilization of the nearly 100 M600s already in service.
The six-seater flagship came into service a few years ago with a five-year / 1,000-hour flight guarantee. Since 2016, Piper has delivered nearly 100 of the model and the fleet has accumulated more than 21,000 fleet hours producing enough data to give Piper confidence to increase the original warranty and apply it retroactively; this fleet has shown that both utilization and stage lengths are greater than expected, Piper said.
“When the M600 was introduced, we offered a warranty program that reflected our commitment to our customers and confidence in the aircraft. That commitment and confidence continues today as we identified an opportunity to increase our standard factory warranty based on M600 owner’s direct feedback and the aircraft’s stellar demonstrated performance,” said Ron Gunnarson, Piper’s vice president of sales, marketing, and customer support. “Simply put, the M600 is delivering on its core value proposition, unprecedented range/payload combined with best in class acquisition and operating costs.”
The M600 has 600 hp (447 kW) and a price of 2.82 million dollars, is equipped with the Garmin G3000, a new wing and a greater fuel capacity.
It received the FAA certification on June 18, 2016. Its maximum cruising speed is 507 km / h (315 mph). The MTOW of the M600 is 6,000 pounds (2,700 kg) with a fuel capacity of 260 US gal (980 L). The full load payload for the M600 is 645 pounds (293 kg).
During the last EBACE 2018, the chief executive officer Simon Caldecott defined the new Piper turboprop a “true business aircraft” but also noted that the new aircraft would have struggled to compete directly with the 5 Millions of dollars market leader Pilatus PC 12; he also said that interest in the M600 came from TBM owners and those who were considering to buy a VLJ (very light jet); the aircraft can operate from shorter runways than the Eclipse 500 or Citation Mustang and has more economic operational costs.
“Even if I wouldn’t put us on the same page as the PC-12, he said, Daher’s smaller turboprops – and the other major single-engine aircraft on the market – are definitely our rivals.” Our philosophy is absolutely to take on TBM. Our claim is that we can do 90% of the mission at 75% of the price “.
CEO Simon Caldecott also called the $2.8 million Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42A-powered M600 aircraft “a significant step forward for Piper Aircraft” that more people are viewing as a “very attractive platform for FAA Part 135 certified operators (charter/air taxi operations)”.
The single-engine turboprop has been also validated by the European Aviation Safety Agency on 22 May 2017, during the EBACE exhibition.
The relatively recent approval by EASA of commercial operations using a single-engine turbine aircraft at night or in meteorological instrumental conditions (Reg UE 363/2017) will certainly open up new commercial opportunities in Europe also for the brand new Piper M600 aircraft.
