Nakanihon Air (Nagoya Komaki) has taken delivery of Japan's first Piaggio Aerospace P.180, after the Italian manufacturer secured Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) type certification for the aircraft.
The factory-new turboprop, with manufacturer serial number 3018, departed Piaggio Aerospace's headquarters at Genoa on January 12 and arrived at Nagoya Komaki four days later, following stops at Irakleion, Sharm el Sheikh, Riyadh, Muscat, Indore, Chittagong, Da Nang, Taipei Songshan, and Nagoya Chubu. The aircraft was ferried under test registration I-PDVS and will be reregistered as JA124N.
This P.180 joins seven fixed-wing aircraft in Nakanihon Air's fleet, including a 2025-built Pilatus PC-24 delivered in September, two Citation Vs, and a number of Beech (twin turboprop) King Air B200s and Cessna (single turboprop) C208s, alongside 57 helicopters.
Nakanihon Air, controlled by private railroad operator Meitetsu, provides a wide range of aviation services, including charter flights, cargo transport, aerial photography, spatial information acquisition, pilot training, sightseeing flights, aircraft completion, and maintenance.
Commenting on the delivery, Piaggio Aerospace chief executive Giovanni Tomassini said the P.180 had entered two new markets over the past three months, Japan and Türkiye, with two aircraft sold in the latter. The manufacturer, acquired by Turkish aerospace and defence group Baykar in mid-2025, plans to increase P.180 production to 25 to 30 aircraft per year.
