Piper Aircraft announced at Sun ‘n Fun 2023 that it has received an order for a trainer fleet from North Carolina-based flight school Blue Line Aviation. The purchase agreement covers a firm commitment for 55 aircraft and options for an additional 60. Deliveries are expected to begin later this year.
“Expanding our fleet partnership to Piper is a step towards reliably expanding our fleet rapidly to serve more students,” said Blue Line Aviation founder Trey Walters. “We are further excited to be purchasing American-made airplanes built in the great state of Florida, which we will soon be calling home.”
Blue Line’s new fleet will include a mix of Piper single-engine Archer TX and twin-engine Seminole trainers. The company says the aircraft will be split between its primary flight training location at Johnston County Airport (JNX) in Smithfield, North Carolina, and its freshly announced site at Florida’s Winter Haven Regional Airport (GIF). Blue Line plans to transition from its existing fleet to an all-Piper fleet over the next four years.
The good part is these will be on the secondary market some day. The way we crash airplanes these days, it ‘s good to know there’ll be late model aircraft available to us.