Piper Aircraft, Inc. has announced at AirVenture 2010 a new program to make aircraft ownership more affordable for pilots who aspire to own a Piper.
The program, called PiperMatch, connects pilots interested in combining their buying power to own a new Piper aircraft at a reduced cost. Under the program, trained PiperMatch specialists work to link pilots with carefully matched co-owner candidates – Piper enthusiasts who share location, financial wherewithal, and have compatible profiles.
“Piper Aircraft has a rich history of making General Aviation affordable and accessible to aviators who share the passion for flight,” Piper Executive Vice President Randy Groom said. “PiperMatch takes that legacy to the next level to assist more pilots afford to live the dream.
“What makes PiperMatch extraordinarily useful is the large database of aviators who are willing co-owners,” Groom said. “Now Piper dealers have an effective tool to match aviators who want to share costs and who live in proximity but may never meet if not for the PiperMatch program.”
The innovative partner matching service is provided free of charge by Piper dealers who can help consumers discover which Piper aircraft model makes the most sense for their intended missions and budgets. PiperMatch specialists then compile a list of potential co-owners who meet specific criteria. The PiperMatch database is comprised of thousands of aviators who have already embraced the concept of reducing the cost of ownership through co-ownership.
While PiperMatch is an effective tool to identify potential co-owners, the program also allows users to access a suite of tax, legal, finance and insurance services to help form legal structures for co-ownership. Time will tell to what degree the PiperMatch program establishes itself in Australia, but to read more about it in the meantime click here.
On another Piper note, six months after the announcing the new PiperSport LSA, PiperSport Distribution, Inc. is making headway with its global distributor network for the aircraft. Currently displaying the aircraft at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2010, PiperSport Product Manager Russ Greenberg said Piper has hit the ground running with PiperSport distribution.
“PiperSport Distribution already covers nearly half of the United States, including highly populated regions, much of the European Union and large parts of the Australian Continent,” he said. “Coupled with our heavy marketing penetration in the Asia/Pacific region, we have begun to blanket the world.”
As well as an offical Australasian distributor in the form of New Zealand-based Aerosport Aviation, seven PiperSport distributors have also already been set up in the US and one each in Germany (covering Austria, Switzerland and the UK) and Poland.