Piper Aircraft today issued a release detailing big changes at the company, which include the departure from Piper of aviation industry veteran and Executive Vice President Randy Groom, who has led the company for the past years to what Piper calls on-target performance despite the down economy. Also out is CEO Geoffrey Berger, who will be replaced by Simon Caldecott, who for the past two years as served as a VP in charge of supply chain and manufacturing. Prior to that, he served in various high-level positions with Raytheon and Hawker in manufacturing, production and testing. Piper has not announced any decision on who will fill Groom’s position or Caldecott’s former slot.
Perhaps the biggest news is that Piper has decided to undertake a review of the Piper Altaire (formerly the PiperJet), which Caldecott says is being done to “ensure the company is properly aligning business goals and light jet market forecasts with investment strategies and economic forecasts. The company will announce the conclusion of this review to employees and the industry as soon as possible.”
The wording of the release might lead some to believe that a decision to shelve the jet program has already been made—announcing a decision to keep a program going is not a common thing. But a Piper spokesman told Flying that this decision has not yet been made.
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All Comments
If this is just a temporary halt due to market conditions I might be able to understand. On the other hand I would be truly saddened to see that much effort and MILLIONS spent only to see those efforts go up in smoke. There is something about that airplane that gets me excited everytime I see a picture of the Altaire.
So this shakeup has nothing to do with the PiperSport fiasco?
Haven't been wild about Piper products, but the Piper jet looked like Piper just might come back and be a central player again. The economy has rocked the D-Jet and the Honda Jet and the Cirrus jet, and has culled some others out of the field. The Piper Jet looks like it may fill a niche. It would be a shame to see it die.
Understand FLYING's cheer-leading for the NBAA, as it represents BIG bucks. But GA does not need expensive jet technology in a recession. From direct experience with Piper o"Sport," )agree that it was a total fiasco), the company needs to recognize that customers come first. Bring out a really cost-effective 4-seater that can be rented for around $100 an hour, and once again the Piper brand will soar sky high.
I would be curious what others think, but these jets seem too expensive for what they provide. $1.5M and up is a pretty select market. Even $650 to $750K for a new airplane is pretty steep for most "recreational" buyers. Who are they selling to? Is there really a market there? (folks who can afford $2M and up for an airplane probably want a lot more capability - range, payload, comfort, ... - for folks who just want to have fun, short haul, $1.5M or more ???). Anyone familiar with the air taxi market? Why hasn't that taken off?
I have no idea how large the vlj market is, or who comprises it. However, there are a lot of players or players to be: Cirrus, Stratos, Diamond, and Piper all with single engine jets. On the double engine side Eclipse is starting up and Cessna and Embraer are already there. I suppose the correct questions to ask are 1. how many new planes are actually needed? 2. at what price points? 3. at what mission parameters?
and then there are the turbo props which are not as quiet, cruise lower, but bump up against the bottom end of jet speeds at a lower operational (if not totally acquisitional) cost.
Now if someone could make a 172 sized jet, that flew at lower altitudes for the GA recreational pilot, at 172 prices and operating costs.....that could convert into a high altitude long range fast cruiser with presssurization and a potty, and while I'm at it, a "refreshment center" wow! would they steal the market....
now back to reality....
VLJ's are not practical aircraft for biz use. It is not feasable to tell passengers that there will be no bathroom for the next 2.5 hours. The marketplace is awash with barely used 1st rate jets with no buyers and prices cratering. No wonder Piper, cirus and Honda are canceling. It is a shame that experienced and able execs have to be sacrificed, though.
I have been flying for over 50 years and I don't believe in designing jet aircraft that are not capable of mixing it up with other jet aircraft in speed and altitude. Companies that design an executive jet incapable of reaching these numbers are fooling themselves about the acceptance of that aircraft. If Piper designed an airplane that cruised at Mach .8
and FL 450 they would have a serious airplane. If that is too big and order for Piper, they shouldn't bother.
Clearly Piper intends to alter its business model, probably with a view to stop bleeding red ink for a light jet. Hopefully sacking Messrs. Groom and Berger and putting Caldecott in the big chair will be more than simply shuffling the deck chairs on their version of the Titanic.
Instead of tossing a hundred million or more down a rat hole to compete in this over-saturated, largely stagnant light-light jet market, New Piper should go back to what worked for them for decades. Why can't this industry bring a suite of affordable four-seaters to the market without making them so damn expensive as to be unaffordable for almost everybody? It appears New Piper have convinced themselves that the affordable four-chair with 150 HP cannot work, that the American flying public only wants high tech planes with automotive -style interiors. But do they, really?
Leather seats are nice, but they add weight and rob designs of useful load and utility. Glass panels, touchscreen equivalents of FMS are great, but who among us can afford them? Digital flip/flop NAV COMs and flying the Victor Airways worked well for us, day in, day out, for fifty years or more. Why do we need panels with two GPS navigators, when one plus a good flip /flop radio works almost as well for less money. And the 800 pound gorilla in the room is the huge liability tail these business are supporting, which influences and slows and hinders every development decision they make.
It seems to me that this race to follow, then stay, at the zenith of technology has neatly paralleled the increasingly moribund nature of this business model. I can just see it now, a bunch of industry experts at NBAA 2011 saying to themselves: "Gee what we really need are a bunch of new customers. So, let's build our planes so expensive that only the millionaires and billionaires can afford it." They after all are the only segment of the American economy that seems to be growing these days.
Yeah, that seems like a great long-term survival plan.
Douglas M
Somewhere north of Bonnier
I have wished for a long time and wondered if it would be possible to build the Twin Commanche again. I read that the building 'jigs' were all ruined and rusted from the hurricane Agnes in 1972. With the Rolls-Royce 450 shp turbine a lot of the 'older' twins could be re-powered and built again.
The Piper Jet looks good, but it needs a potty somewhere. But Dreaming and Doing are two different things.
John Konieczny jmk1950@aol.com
