Textron acquires Pipistrel – just another merger? An age-old cartoon shows ever-bigger fish gobbling up smaller fish, a kind of allegory for capitalist, competitive markets, perhaps. In the electric flight world, this acquisitive spirit is exemplified by the news that Textron, “home to Cessna, Beechcraft, and Bell aviation brands,” is purchasing the smaller Slovenian firm Pipistel. Pipistrel has grown from humble origins producing powered hang gliders to its current status as a major supplier of small training aircraft, electric motor gliders and trainers and cargo vehicles.
What might be great joy for Ivo Boscarol, founder and CEO of Pipistrel, comes with varying degrees of happiness and concern for others. Boscarol will remain as Chairman Emeritus and minority stockholder for the next two years and has these encouraging words for Pipistrel’s future. “To drive Pipistrel’s ambitious goals and to continue its story of success, the joining of Textron and Pipistrel provides deep expertise and resources which would otherwise be inaccessible to Pipistrel alone. With Textron, we are together geared to strive for future growth and look forward to announcing exciting new products and projects. I am delighted to continue witnessing my vision become a reality by being actively engaged with the company for the future.”
Textron Chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly seems to agree with that happy assessment. “Pipistrel puts Textron in a uniquely strong position to develop technologies for the sustainable aviation market and develop a variety of new aircraft to meet a wide range of customer missions…. Textron is committed to maintaining Pipistrel’s brand, headquarters, research and development, and manufacturing in Slovenia and Italy, while making additional investments in Pipistrel for the development and production of future products.”
Different Opinions
We’ve seen previous mergers and acquisitions that did not turn out well for the company that gets bought out. Paul Bertorelli, writing for the AVWeb Insider, notes that the two companies are an odd couple, indeed. He explains, “Textron is a diverse multinational conglomerate that ranks 265 on the Fortune 500—revenues in the mid $13 billion range. It’s as lawyerly and buttoned down as any company I have ever covered, except maybe for Boeing. Slovenia-based Pipistrel is in the $40 millionish range and bubbles with the freewheeling creativity of the entrepreneurial company it actually is. If Textron is IBM, Pipistrel is Ben & Jerry’s; Pipistrel is Tatooine to Textron’s Earth. (At least it keeps the Chinese from getting it.)” The last note references Christian Dies, founder of Diamond Aircraft selling his company to Chinese interests.
The big concern seems to be that the big company’s “buttoned-down” style will stymie the more adventurous spirit of the smaller firm. Or will Pipistrel’s creativity “rub off” on the newly amalgamated organization?
One hopeful note comes from Textron’s stated intention to, “…make further investments to support Pipistrel’s plans to bring various new electric and hybrid-electric aircraft to market, while also giving it access to the group’s technical and regulatory expertise, as well as its global sales and support network.”
That would be an ideal solution for those of us who feel that electric aircraft have a necessary future and that they will be essential in fighting the climate crisis. But Pipistrel has delivered only 2,500 aircraft total since its founding in 1989. Compare that to Textron’s deliveries of single and multi-engine aircraft over that period, and its broader ownership of Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Arctic Cat, and Textron Systems.
With Pipistrel’s development of small power systems for its motor gliders and training aircraft, though, perhaps it would have an opportunity to apply its skills in that area to electrifying whole fleets of snowmobiles, industrial lawn care systems, and other fossil-fuel powered vehicles.
Pipistel would seem to be a positive fit, too, for Kautex, which makes composite structures, and Textron Systems, which could collaborate on military systems that use automation and could benefit from electric power.
Pipistrel has given us the Panthera, a hybrid power design that would be an elegant cruiser. Originally intended as a hybrid flyer, it may return to that configuration – important in a world where we experience fluctuations in fuel supply.
In the electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) world, Pipistrel has introduced the Nuuva line of cargo carriers.
Pipistrel’s G4 won NASA’s Green Flight Challenge in 2011, achieving the equivalent of 402 passenger miles per gallon energy use with the largest electric aircraft motor in the world at that time. The winning G4 has become the HY4 and has helped pioneer hydrogen power as a motive source for aircraft. This kind of unique aircraft shows the ingenuity of designer Tine Tomazic and the willingness of Pipistrel’s CEO to enable such creativity.
We can only hope that Pipistrel can continue its history of innovation and creative solutions. Anything less would be a loss to the aviation world, and to Textron.