Pilatus Aircraft has gained a new customer, with its sale of nine PC-9M turbo-trainers to the Royal Jordanian Air Force. The Swiss company said, “The order was awarded only after several years of hard negotiations…against several other international competitors.” The sale also includes a simulator, training equipment and a comprehensive logistics support package. 

The new trainers will be delivered from January 2017 and will serve for both basic and advanced training. They will replace CASA 101 jets that, by then, will have been in service at the King Hussein Air College for 30 years. Pilatus has now sold about 70 PC-9Ms to seven air forces; another nine air forces previously bought the original PC-9 version.

Meanwhile, the Pilatus factory at Stans continues to produce PC-7 MkII basic trainers for the Indian air force, with more than two-thirds of the 75 on order now delivered. As for the top-of-the-line PC-21, 32 of the 55 contracted via BAE Systems have now been delivered to the Royal Saudi Air Force. Pilatus is also completing an order for 24 PC-21s for Qatar, having previously made deliveries to the air forces of Singapore (19), Switzerland (8) and the UAE (25).