After the success of the P48 Astore in 1951, we were asked to build other models. The team built the low wing P52 Tigrotto and the one-seat P53 Aeroscooter. However, it wasn’t until the P55 Tornado won the Giro di Sicilia race that we gained recognition. This gave us the confidence to start up our first company: Partenavia.

With the success of our first series production, the P57 Fachiro, we continued building other models for aero clubs and flight school. Air races were popular at the time, and we competed, arriving always second. In 1967, finally, the “always second” arrived First!

The Seventies arrived with all their dark shadows and new challenges. Our first twin engine made the first flight in 1970 and to our surprise, she became the most sold European twin engine aircraft in the US. A new facility was built in Naples International Airport to sustain the production.

Despite the success of the P68 and its variants, the beginning of the eighties drove us to some hard decisions. Partenavia was acquired by the Italian Government, a good idea at the time, but ultimately tough management led to the core team exiting the company. We founded Tecnam in 1986 to produce parts for them and other manufacturers such as Boeing and ATR. The team was in their 70s and two seconds away from quitting.

With Tecnam, we started again in a small lab. The dream of building aircraft seemed all but vanished. But Paolo, the second generation pushed us to work on a model in a new category, the Ultralight.
He was so insistent that our team produced the P92: it was a real aircraft with the weight and the freedom of an Ultralight. It was the real big success! Over 2600 P92 were built in the following years!

The new century found us with new energies and ideas! It was so fun to build the P92 with retractable gear, or the SeaSky to land and float on water! But General Aviation was our DNA. It was the time to design a new twin engine: the P2006T was born. We had been studying composite materials since the 1960. So we wanted to use them, this led to the P2008.

The new decade saw the launch of the P2010, our first Tecnam four seat, with composite fuselage! We pulled all of our experience to create a new aircraft with state-of-art materials and avionics. The world largest regional airlines, the US based Cape Air, contacted us asking for an even newer model. Pushing us to create the P2012. After an extensive certification program we flew the aircraft for the first time in July 2016.

2023 is a very special year for Tecnam: 75-year anniversary since 1948, when the two Pascale brothers built the first aircraft, 30 years since the first flight of the P92, 100 years anniversary of the birth of Professor Luigi Pascale. Today Tecnam, among the top worldwide manufacturers, is recognized as the best aircraft for training, offering a complete fleet solution from two seat IFR up to the twin engine. With the Gran Lusso Tecnam also delight the most demanding private owner with a machine that brings the quintessence of made in Italy.