EADS Socata’s TBM 850 sales reach the 150-order milestone
60 firm orders have been booked for aircraft allocated in 2008, while total TBM 850 customer deliveries reach 92 aircraft
Tarbes, 21 December 2007
EADS Socata’s TBM 850 is ending a highly successful year with record sales backlog booked for 2008 and moving fast into 2009 along with production rate growth for the Very Fast Turboprop aircraft.
Nicolas Chabbert, EADS Socata’s Vice President, Sales & Marketing, said that 60 TBM 850 aircraft were sold from its 2008 order book since the allocation was opened in early September of this year.
“Never in the TBM program’s history has a year’s order capacity been filled up so fast,” Chabbert said. “This is a spectacular achievement by our sales team and distributors. It also testifies to wide public recognition of the TBM 850’s performance and overall quality. Combined with moderate fuel consumption, the TBM 850 is delivering jet speed with a low environmental signature.”
The new orders bring firm TBM 850 sales to more than 150 in the 24 months since the aircraft was launched in mid-December 2005. The majority has been purchased by US customers; with a 20% share for Europe and 10% for South America, Asia and the Pacific, and with new sales in Brazil and Australia.
Of the total sales to date, 42 TBM 850s were delivered in 2006, and another 42 to date have gone to customers in 2007. The company has scheduled deliveries of an additional nine aircraft enduring the remaining days of this month.
The TBM 850 is the world’s fastest single engine turboprop, with a maximum cruising speed of 320 KTAS at 26,000 ft (in ISA conditions). A 850-shp version of EADS Socata’s proven six-seat TBM 700 turboprop business aircraft, the TBM 850 combines the cruising speed and travel times typical of light jets with economical direct operating costs, while offering the range and excellent payload capacity of turboprop aircraft.
EADS Socata is one of the world’s leading general aviation manufacturers, with more than 17,000 aircraft built since its creation as Morane-Saulnier in 1911. Current products include the TBM family of high-speed turboprops, TB GT piston aircraft, aerostructures for Airbus civil airliners, the A400M military transporter, Dassault Falcon jets, Eurocopter helicopters and Embraer regional jets.
EADS Socata is expanding its customer service activities to support the growing fleet of TBM aircraft and to offer its light aviation expertise for aircraft below the 5.7 metric ton takeoff weight category. Headquartered in Tarbes, France, with North American operations in Pembroke Pines, Florida, EADS Socata is a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS – a global leader in aerospace, defense and related services.
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2006,
EADS generated revenues of € 39.4 billion and employed a workforce of about 116,000. The Group includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world's largest helicopter supplier Eurocopter, and EADS Astrium, the European leader in space programmes from Ariane to Galileo. Its Defence & Security Division is a provider of comprehensive systems solutions and makes EADS the major partner in the Eurofighter consortium as well as a stakeholder in the missile systems provider MBDA. EADS also develops the A400M through its Military Transport Aircraft Division.
Contact for the media:
| Philippe de Segovia | For more information, visit www.socata.eads.net |
Tel.: +33 (0)6 70 21 70 47 www.socata.eads.net |
