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Read this story in our August 2022 printed issue.
French medical and cargo transportation operator Oyonnair has signed an order through its financial arm Investairs for the purchase of a new P180 Avanti EVO.
The aircraft, which is expected to be delivered by the second quarter of 2023, will be set up in medevac configuration with an enlarged door (from 24 to 29 inches wide) and an additional fuel tank to offer better performance and mission flexibility.
Oyonnair, founded in Lyon in 1990, started operating its first Piaggio P180 in 2015. With this order, its P180 fleet reaches eight units.
“We are very excited to announce the purchase of a new Avanti EVO, the perfect fit aircraft for medevac operations,” says CEO Daniel Vovk. “The Avanti EVO is fast, versatile and an efficiency champion, thanks to the lowest fuel consumption in its category and the option of flying SAF, thus reducing carbon emissions. With the new configuration, we can offer our clients even better performance: for this reason, and according to our growth strategy, we are now aiming at ordering three more aircraft by the end of this year.”
Extraordinary commissioner Vincenzo Nicastro adds: “Piaggio Aerospace is grateful to Oyonnair for the renewed trust in the Avanti EVO, the company’s flagship product, and Piaggio Aerospace itself. Now that we are definitively close to identifying a new owner, such an announcement confirms that the company is healthy and ‘on the market’, ready to further unleash its potential.”
At present, with its 42 employees, Oyonnair undertakes a yearly average of 5,000 flight hours and more than 1,200 medical evacuation missions. In 2020 and 2021, the company helped the French government with the COVID crisis by evacuating approximately 250 patients from saturated hospitals to less busy ones. Oyonnair’s team has also recently decided on retrofit modification of two of its seven older P180s, in particular with setting up the enlarged door. The first retrofitted aircraft was delivered by Piaggio Aerospace last June, and the second one is planned to be retrofitted starting from October 2022.
