Mubadala in 'final' talks for design of Piaggio jet

Piaggio is a third-owned by Abu Dhabi investment business Mubadala. The other shareholding is with India’s Tata Group and Italy’s Ferrari family.

Piaggio chief executive Alberto Galassi cancelled plans to be at the Europe’s major business aviation event EBACE this week to attend the meetings in the UAE.

The Genoa-based manufacturer has been mulling over the proposition of a jet to add to its offering of the world’s fastest turbo-prop business aircraft, the Piaggio P180 Avanti .

There has been speculation for several years that it could be manufactured in Abu Dhabi with Mubadala’s aerospace industry head Hommaid Shemmari saying at the last Dubai Airshow that the company would be producing a business jet by 2018.

Mubadala owns Strata in Al Ain which is manufacturing composite aero structures for Airbus and could be a risk-sharing partner in the Piaggio jet project.

Speaking at EBACE in Geneva today Eligio Trombetta confirmed the final design would be agreed within a “matter of weeks”. He said he was at the Geneva show to meet both customers and those in the supply chain.