Piper Aircraft posts strong sales, invests

Piper Aircraft built and sold 291 aircraft in both 2024 and 2025. The Vero Beach, Florida-based manufacturer is now investing in new employee facilities, company executives told TCPalm.

Piper has gone more than a decade without implementing any layoffs. This follows a turbulent 15-year period where intermittent sales and market conditions forced nearly a dozen rounds of job cuts, culminating in a final layoff of 1,400 employees reported in 2015.

Investment in workforce

The company is sharing its recent success with its 1,500 employees by adding new on-site amenities. Piper opened a dining hall in June 2026, following the earlier launch of an on-site gym and a primary care clinic that provides free healthcare services to staff.

"These things weren't cheap, by the way. They are very nice facilities," said Piper CEO John Calcagno. "They are an investment. You treat people right, treat them like family."

Business diversification and production

Piper is diversifying its business footprint beyond aircraft manufacturing. The company has expanded its aircraft service center and created a new subsidiary called PIMCO, which specializes in providing manufacturing services to other companies. Executives declined to comment on the revenue impact of this venture.

On the production floor, Senior Director Duane Hoppe explained the precision required to build even simple parts, like a door hinge fashioned from a block of aluminum. He stated it takes between four and six months to manufacture an aircraft from scratch.

Ownership and past challenges

The company is owned by Brunei, a sovereign nation in Southeast Asia, which purchased Piper through its sovereign wealth fund in 2009. This followed a period of significant downsizing. CEO John Calcagno praised the current ownership, saying, "We could not have a better shareholder than what we have now."

Piper faced a significant challenge last year due to tariffs between Canada and the United States that increased engine costs. At the time, Calcagno warned in a letter that over a thousand local jobs could be in jeopardy if an exemption was not found. The company ultimately secured the exemption.

Calcagno has since clarified his earlier statements. "The thing you guys reported in the press was not accurate," he said. "Jobs have not been at risk here. What was at risk was the timely completion of aircraft. Never jobs."

Future outlook

Piper believes it can weather new tariff escalations between the two countries. "We are closely monitoring the situation and its potential effects on our supply chain and customers," said Piper spokesperson Kathleen Pagani. "At this point, we do not anticipate the current tariff actions to result in disruptions to Piper's production."

The company is also investing in new equipment and research and development, including work on electric aircraft technology. Calcagno called the technology exciting, though not yet economically feasible, and expressed his personal enthusiasm for flying the company's products over the ocean near Vero Beach.