Tecnam hosted dealers, vendors, and journalists today at its factory in Capua, Italy, in honor of the legacy of founders Luigi and Giovanni Pascale—who established their first aircraft business, Partenavia, in 1948—and planned to culminate the festivities with an evening celebration.

Under construction in front of the Tecnam factory is a new headquarters building and a 16,000-sq-m (172,000-sq-ft) production facility is in the works and will come online later this year. Also under development is a 2,000-sq-m (21,500-sq-ft) flight-test facility that will enable the company to bring its test aircraft closer to the runway. The runway, which is a grass strip right now, will also be receiving a makeover with concrete pavement in the coming months, according to Tecnam managing director Giovanni Pascale Langer.

With those changes, Tecnam will be able to consolidate and boost production for its aircraft, including the P2012, an 11-seat piston twin that came to market in 2019 and is finding a growing market worldwide. Langer said the company plans to double production to two aircraft a month. The Italian planemaker has delivered some 60 of the aircraft already, finding significant interest in the U.S. with carriers such as Cape Air, its launch customer that placed orders for up to 100. Stressing that the aircraft was designed for reliability and durability, Langer noted one operator in Alaska put 1,500 hours on its first P2012 in a year—and that involved 21-minute stage lengths.

Meanwhile, Tecnam is preparing to ramp up production of its P-Mentor, an IFR two-seat single that company executives believe is the first such clean-sheet Part 23-certified model designed for the training market since the Cessna 152. While EASA certified the aircraft in 2022, Tecnam is hoping to bring the Mentor to EAA AirVenture with FAA certification in hand. It already has a backlog of orders for 100 from the U.S. market, but they keep flowing in—one sales representative noted he received deals for three today. The company is producing three a month but is ramping up to six, with plans to reach nine with the additional capacity of the under-construction factory.

Langer discussed the importance of establishing its presence in the U.S. market, noting that it has a long history in Europe but is still growing its visibility in North America. The company opened its U.S. operation in 2014 and at the time was selling a few of its aircraft per year in the market. Since then, sales in this region have grown to about 80 annually, he noted.

As for the company's history, Tecnam was founded in 1986 by the Pascales after Partenavia was faltering and bought by the Italian government. Originally establishing Tecnam to supply parts to Partenavia and other manufacturers, the Pascale brothers returned to aircraft manufacturing with the light aircraft, the P92, which became so successful that it eclipsed all the other aircraft sold from the original Partenavia—some 2,800 were delivered, compared with a little more than 1,000 from the original company the brothers founded in 1948.

In all, Tecnam and the former Partenavia company have delivered some 7,500 aircraft for the light-sport, general aviation, training, and commercial markets.