One of the more eye-catching aircraft at the Singapore Airshow is the eight-passenger Piaggio P.180 Avanti Evo, the latest variant of the distinctive Italian twin-turboprop with foreplanes, pusher engines, and a dramatic, streamlined fuselage. Malaysia-based company Kris Sakti Aero owns the aircraft on display.

Due in part to its futuristic looks but also on account of its near jet-like performance, the Avanti has sold steadily since its introduction in the early 1990s, appealing to private and corporate customers, as well as to some government agencies for high-speed liaison duties. It has also spawned an unmanned derivative, the P.1HH HammerHead, and a maritime patrol version with long-span wings for greater endurance.

In 2015 Piaggio began delivering the Avanti Evo, a version featuring aerodynamic improvements—including winglets—and uprated Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66B engines that give increased load-carrying ability and an impressive 400 kt cruise speed at 31,000 ft. New Hartzell scimitar-bladed propellers significantly reduce the aircraft’s noise footprint compared with earlier models. Additional fuel capacity raises its range to 1,770nm.

Piaggio Aerospace has experienced financial difficulties in recent years, and in 2020 went up for sale. A fresh bidding process for the sale started in January, with a deadline for submission of expressions of interest scheduled for the end of this month. In its most reecent financial year the company had experienced one of its best years, recording a turnover of €152 million and with an order book of around €500m. A further €180m of contracts had yet to be formalized.