Daher Aircraft Delivers First European Kodiak 900 to Swiss Couple Roland and Claudia Primus
Why It MattersA first European delivery shows a utility turboprop built around unimproved-strip performance finding private buyers beyond North America, drawing owners who step up from piston singles rather than from jets.
What happened
Daher Aircraft announced on October 19, 2026, at NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas, Nevada, the delivery of a Kodiak 900 to Swiss owners Roland and Claudia Primus. The aircraft was handed over earlier this month at Daher Aircraft's Sandpoint, Idaho facility. It is the first Kodiak 900 delivered to a European customer and the 35th Kodiak 900 produced.
The Primuses are moving up from a Cessna 182 and will base the aircraft at Bad Ragaz Aerodrome (LSZE) in Switzerland, which has a 495-meter (1,624-foot) runway. They plan to use it for adventure flying to small airfields: mountain biking in the Alps and Pyrenees, surfing and wing foiling on the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea, trekking in northern Europe, and ski touring along Greenland's west coast. Roland Primus said the aircraft met their requirements for turbine power, speed and performance, operation on grass and gravel strips, short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability, and stable handling.
The 10-seat Kodiak 900 has a fuselage extended by 3.9 feet (1.19 meters) over the Kodiak 100, increasing cabin volume by more than 20 percent to 309 cubic feet. It is powered by a 900-shaft-horsepower Pratt & Whitney PT6A-140A turboprop and reaches a maximum cruise speed of 210 KTAS. Aerodynamic refinements, including landing-gear wheel fairings and optimized airflow through ducts, inlets and air intakes, reduce drag. A Hartzell Propeller five-blade composite propeller, operating at 1,900 rpm, contributes to a noise level of 79.5 dB, and specific fuel consumption is reduced by nine percent.
Introduced in 2022, the Kodiak 900 is used by private and business owners as well as multi-mission operators in public safety, law enforcement and wildfire suppression. The Kodiak 100, which first flew in 2004, remains in production alongside it at Sandpoint. Daher Aircraft acquired the Kodiak product line in 2019, and more than 400 Kodiak 100s and Kodiak 900s have been delivered in total. Daher is exhibiting a Kodiak 900 and a TBM 980 in the Aircraft Connection static display at Henderson Executive Airport on October 20-21 (exhibit AC-23).
Industry impact & what to watch
The buyer profile is the instructive part. A Cessna 182 owner moving to a 900-shaft-horsepower turboprop is making a step-up that bypasses the light-jet market entirely, trading cruise speed for the ability to use short grass and gravel strips. A 495-meter home runway makes that trade concrete: the mission defines the aircraft, and the aircraft opens destinations that faster, heavier types cannot reach.
For a manufacturer, a first delivery outside North America matters mostly as proof of a transatlantic customer path. The Kodiak line has built its reputation on public-safety and utility work; private adventure flying in Europe is a different demand pool, and one handover does not establish its size. Delivered numbers from Sandpoint over the coming quarters would show whether European orders follow, and the static display at Henderson Executive Airport on October 20-21 is where Daher will be putting the aircraft in front of prospective buyers.
