Vulcanair

Cockpit of Partenavia P68 (VH-PNT) at Jandakot Airport, Jandakot, Australia

Brief History

Partenavia was established in 1957 by prof. Luigi Pascale and it produced a quite large family of single-engined sport aircraft which eventually culminated with the successful twin-engined P.68 Victor and its derivatives. The Canguro was designed by aeronautical engineer Stelio Frati in the '70s (first flight on December 30th 1978) for Siai Marchetti that, in 1981, developed the SF.600A version, with turboprop engine, retractable landing gear and cargo capability with lateral sliding door or hinged rear fuselage. Today just ten Canguro have been produced. Former spare parts producer Vulcanair, based in Casoria near Naples, set up a programme to produce a complete range of Italian designed twin-engined light transport aircraft. It must be assumed that the name Vulcanair is because the volcano Vesuvius is nearby (from Vulcan, Roman God of fire and volcanoes, and the manufacturer of art, arms, iron, and armour for gods and heroes). Vulcanair was founded in 1996 after purchasing all the assets, type design, trademarks and rights of the bankrupt Partenavia. In 1997, Vulcanair took over the Siai Marchetti SF.600 Canguro programme from Finmeccanica and later acquired Samanta, a Naples based air-work operator with SF.600 and P.68 experience. Around 1998 Vulcanair took over Milan based Aercosmos that had bought Partenavia Costruzioni Aeronautiche SpA from Alenia in 1993. Vulcanair was then in the position to revive the production of twin-engined aircraft ranging from the basic P.68C to the turbine-powered 8,000 lbs MTOW Canguro (possibly in a stretched version).^[1] Vulcanair's current products are based upon the designs of Stelio Frati (SF600A Canguro) and Luigi Pascale (P68 Series).^[2] Vulcanair is situated on 60,000 sq.m. of space at the Capodichino Airport in Naples, Italy.

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