Airline Transport Professionals flight school has agreed to buy 15 Archer TX single-engine airplanes from Piper Aircraft, with options for up to 85 more, the companies announced Wednesday at Sun ‘n Fun. These will be the first single-engine Pipers in ATP’s fleet as the school transitions to predominantly Piper training aircraft. All of the new ATP airplanes will be equipped with Garmin G500 avionics. “This large follow-on fleet transaction clearly shows continued confidence on the part of ATP in Piper Aircraft,” said Piper CEO Simon Caldecott. The flight school previously bought 30 Piper Seminoles, in 2011.
The initial 15 airplanes will be delivered later this year. All of them will be equipped with Garmin G500 avionics suites. ATP Vice President Jim Koziarski said the flight school chose Piper aircraft for dispatch reliability, technological flexibility in cockpit avionics and instrumentation, and operational economy. ATP provides more pilots to the regional airlines than any other single flight school, college, or academy, the company said in a news release.
