Pilatus Aircraft Ltd

Pilatus has built aircraft at Stans, near Lake Lucerne, since December 1939, and it remains the only Swiss firm that designs, certifies and sells complete aircraft to customers around the world. The work divides in two. Business aviation covers the PC-12 PRO single-engine turboprop and the PC-24 twinjet, sold to owner-pilots, charter fleets and air ambulance operators. Government aviation covers military flying training, currently the PC-21 advanced trainer and the PC-7 MKX basic trainer, along with the ground-based systems that go with them. Customer support is the third strand, running an international service centre network, the CrystalCare warranty programme, the MyPilatus owner portal and crew and technician courses. That last piece matters more than it sounds for a manufacturer whose aircraft often operate a long way from a maintenance base.

The group employs more than 3,500 people and reported sales of 1.672 billion Swiss francs for 2025, operating earnings of 170 million and incoming orders of 1.869 billion. Deliveries came to 147 aircraft, made up of 82 PC-12s, 50 PC-24s, 14 PC-21s and the first PC-7 MKX, down from 153 the year before. Management blamed supply chain disruption, a falling dollar and volatile United States tariffs. Order backlog stood at roughly 3.57 billion dollars at the end of the year. Subsidiaries operate in the United States, Australia, Spain and Germany, with a Seville site opened in 2024 that employs around 150 people and a Florida assembly centre started in January 2026. The American operation, which handles sales, service and a large share of aircraft completion work for North and South America, was consolidated into a single entity during the same period.

The PC-12 is the aircraft that made the commercial reputation, a pressurised single with a cargo door and rough-field landing gear that found buyers in medevac, law enforcement, airborne surveillance and regional charter. The PC-12 PRO update cleared EASA and FAA certification in July 2025. The PC-24 applies the same thinking to a jet, keeping the cargo door and clearing approval for unpaved strips, and it is offered in an air ambulance fit. Military training is the older business by some margin. The PC-7 first flew in the 1970s and its descendants taught pilots in dozens of air forces, while the PC-6 Porter, a short-takeoff utility aircraft whose production ended in 2019, still flies with special mission users. The PC-21 replaced much of the older fleet with a turboprop tuned to handle like a fast jet, which lets air forces move training down from expensive lead-in fighter trainers, and it is sold as a system rather than a bare airframe, bundling simulators, courseware and mission planning. The PC-7 MKX arrived as the basic half of that stack and has been picked by the Netherlands, by France for 23 aircraft and by Belgium for 18. Three European air forces inside one year is a strong start for a new trainer.