Moscow's Parachute Training Centre is to take delivery this month of a P-750 XSTOL turboprop, produced by Pacific Aerospace. The aircraft is the 85th of its type produced by PAL but the operator says it will be the first P-750 in Russia, as it has now gained type acceptance and is ready for service. PAL's Russian agent expects to deliver 37 of these aircraft over the next five years.

“Russia is an exciting market for us,” says Damian Camp, ceo of PAL. “Capturing just a small fraction of the replacement market for the 17,000 pre-WWII Antonov AN2 biplanes produced in Russia would be a big deal for us.

“We'd love to be doing this on the back of a Russia-NZ free trade agreement but I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer for that.”

The aircraft can accommodate up to 10 passengers and is renowned for its short take-off and landing capability with its single engine. It already operates in testing conditions in places such as Nepal, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Africa where reliability, low cost of operation and superior payload are crucial.