Pilatus Aircraft will arrive in Geneva, Switzerland for EBACE 2012, after just announcing an “excellent set of results for 2011,” thanks to solid deliveries of its PC-21 military trainer. The Swiss manufacturer’s business aviation division, however, had a “difficult year.”

Overall, Pilatus recorded $829 million in revenues last year, up 14 percent from a year ago, and $115 million in profits, a 23-percent rise from 2010. It also logged $441.8 million in sales last year, but aircraft deliveries outpaced sales and the backlog as of December 31 had dropped by 50 percent year-over-year, to $345.3 million.

Last year Pilatus delivered 63 PC-12 NGs to customers, down from the 79 it shipped last year and the record 100 it handed over to customers in 2009.

According to the company, North and South America are still major markets for its turboprop single, with 44 delivered last year in North and South America, including one to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which was an early adopter of the PC-12 and “still one of Pilatus’s most loyal customers ever.”

Despite the 20-percent fall in PC-12 deliveries last year, “That figure still represents a good sales effort, given the difficult market situation in general aviation,” Pilatus said. “In 2011 the PC-12 ranked second in terms of best-selling turboprop aircraft.”