Piper cancels Altaire personal jet programme

The single engine jet had been in design for several years and had been aimed at bringing the jet technology to Piper's thousands of owner pilots, mostly in the USA.

It had reacted to proposed developments by Diamond and Cirrus which also both had stromg owner pilot customers in the pistonmarket by launching the concept previosly called PiperJet

The company exhibited at NBAA in Las Vegas earlier in the month showing off the mock-up of the Altaire. But last week there was a substantial hiatus is the managent team with the CEO leaving and the new management team calling for a review of the personal jet programme

“Following an evaluation of Altaire development and light jet forecasts we determined the best course of action for the company going forward is to indefinitely suspend the program, preserving intellectual property and progress to date,” said Simon Caldecott, the company’s interim president and CEO.

He said planned development costs had risen above the point that were recoverable under light jet market projections.   Caldecott said the aircraft had hit performance targets and stayed on budget and schedule.