Viking Air to Sell Twin Otters to the Peruvian Air Force

Jun 18 2011 David Pugliese’s Defence Watch

Editor’s note: Viking Air sent out this press release on Friday, stating that it was embargoed until June 21. An embargo is a request to the news media that publications hold off publishing until that date, in this case June 21. Embargos are usually used for very important news such as an Auditor General’s report or Budget release by the federal government.

After sending out this embargoed press release Viking Air officials then violated their own embargo and talked to the Globe and Mail, putting details into the public domain that they stated they didn’t want to be public until June 21.

Since Viking Air violated its own embargo, Defence Watch is running their press release now.

Paris, France, June 21st, 2011: In recent months, two major deposit and purchase agreements for Viking Series 400 Twin Otters have been executed, valued at nearly $100 Million and bringing the current order backlog well into 2014.

The most significant of the multiple-aircraft purchases, and largest single customer order to date, derives from an inter-governmental agreement between the Peruvian Air Force and Canadian Commercial Corporation, acting on behalf of Viking.

The agreement encompasses twelve Viking Series 400 Twin Otters, configured with both land gear and floats for carrying out various missions in remote areas of Peru. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery over the next four years, with training, spares and equipment also included in the contract.

David Curtis, Viking president & CEO said, “We are extremely proud to have the Peruvian Air Force as a new Series 400 customer. With this acquisition Peru will become the largest government operator of the Twin Otter, with a total of seventeen aircraft including the five legacy aircraft in their current fleet.”

The first of the twelve Series 400 Twin Otters is ready for customer acceptance, which is scheduled next week when a large contingent of military representatives will be on-site to receive the aircraft and flight training at Viking’s headquarters in Victoria, BC.

Viking launched the new DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 400 production program in 2007, and currently has a production backlog estimated at over $300M through 2014. Viking provides OEM support for the worldwide fleet of de Havilland heritage line of aircraft (DHC-1 through DHC-7), and is part of Westerkirk Capital Inc., a Canadian private investment firm with substantial holdings in the hospitality, aviation and real estate sectors.