There is good news and bad news for Rhineland Air Service (RAS), the Daher-Socata TBM distributor for Germany and Austria. The good news is that Badenwings, a corporate aircraft operator in Germany, stopped by Daher-Socata’s EBACE exhibit (Booth 6540) on Tuesday and unexpectedly signed for a new TBM 900. However, the aircraft that Badenwings will be taking–S/N 1005–was originally slotted to be delivered next week to RAS as a demonstration aircraft, so the distributor will now have to wait until later in the year to get another demo TBM 900.

Badenwings, based at Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden International Airport near Rheinmuenster-Soellingen, will instead take delivery of the new turboprop single next week. The operator plans on using it to carry small freight and transport passengers for its holding company, Schmidt & Eger. Sealing the deal on the EBACE static display ramp were (l-r): RAS CEO Johannes Graf von Schaesberg, Badenwings chairman Jochen Schmidt and Daher-Socata senior vice president Nicolas Chabbert.