Daher Rebrands, Opens New Facility In Florida
With the market for its TBM single-engine turboprops showing new vitality, French aircraft manufacturer Daher formally opened a new sales, maintenance and support facility in Pompano Beach, Florida, on Friday. Coincident with that, the company has also undergone a bit of a name change, from the former Daher-Socata to just Daher, the name of the family that founded the current company. Socata was once part of the Airbus Industries consortium, but Daher has owned its assets for about six years. The name change make Daher the nameplate builder of the aircraft, but TBM remains the brand. Daher also owns the single-engine line once produced by Socata.
Daher was previously located down the coast, at North Perry Airport, but needing more space for expansion, it built a new facility at Pompano Beach, which is convenient for customers flying in and out of Miami International Airport. Some 300 people—customers, vendors and Daher employees—attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Pompano Beach on Friday. The new facility has 32,000 square feet of hangar and office space constructed to the new 150-MPH Florida hurricane codes. In addition to full maintenance capability, the new facility will also stock a full line of parts and be capable of the heaviest repairs on the TBM line. Across all three models, there are about 500 TBMs in the U.S., the company says. CEO Patrick Daher told AVweb that the company is bullish on increasing sales in the U.S. and even during the long downturn since 2009, it has increased market share.
