Pilatus has reported achieving initial certification for its PC-7 MKX basic trainer, after enjoying a bumper orders year for the new model in 2025.

Last year saw the Swiss airframer secure a trio of commitments for the single-engined turboprop, with a combined total of 49 units sold to Belgium (18), France (23) and the Netherlands (8).

Launch customer the Royal Netherlands Air Force is due to take delivery of its first examples of the MKX – being acquired as replacements for its 13 baseline PC-7s – from the first half of 2027.

Notably, at the time of its contract announcement a year ago, the airframer stated that the French air force would take 22 aircraft: one fewer than the figure it now quotes.

“Modernisation of the PC-7 MKX progressed further with several important steps in the certification process,” the company says in its annual results publication released on 3 March.

“The [Swiss] Federal Office of Civil Aviation certified the new avionics system in June 2025,” it states, referring to the type’s Garmin G3000 Prime-based cockpit.

“Various technical improvements – including ejection seat, oxygen and environmental control system – were also successfully certified between 2024 and mid-2025. This means that the basic configuration of the PC-7 MKX is now fully certified.”

Meanwhile, it notes that one MKX airframe was delivered in 2025, with this believed to refer to a company-owned demonstrator. Aviation analytics company Cirium records this as bearing the registration HB-HHH.

Pilatus also delivered 14 PC-21 advanced trainers in 2025. Those were produced under a second-batch commitment from the Spanish air force, with shipments under that 16-aircraft deal “largely completed over the course of the year”.

Cirium data indicates that Madrid has now received all 40 of its ordered PC-21s.