China’s population of GA pilots is growing. Quickly. We’ve written several times about how Chinese airlines are having to bring in foreign pilots to get crews with enough flight experience. With expanding flight opportunities and the Civil Aviation Authority of China working to open up General Aviation, that may not be the case for much longer.
As part of the expansion of domestic flight training in China, Piper has sold 50 Archers to their China distributer, China Air Shuttle. The Archers will be manufactured at Piper’s factory in Florida, but assembled in Rizhao, China. China Air Shuttle will then distribute them to flight schools and general aviation companies in the region.
Why so many Archers? The Archer is one of the most popular trainers in the world and China has already been using Piper Seminoles for multi-engine training for the last decade. They’re familiar with Piper products. Also, believe it or not, there is significantparts commonality between the Archer and the Seminole, potentially helping with parts availability and lowering downtime.
The first 50 planes are scheduled to be delivered over the next two years, but Piper and China Air Shuttle both expect that, given how quickly the flight training market in China is growing, more trainers will be needed shortly.
Learn more at Piper.
