[3] A 1980s wave of new-generation planes, developed to appeal to Fortune 500 clients, included Piaggio's Avanti and Beech Aircraft Corp.'s very similar Starship.

[14] At high angles of attack these delta fins provide a nose-down pitching moment and help to avoid a potential stall,[15][16][17] and they increase stability in flight by damping yaw and Dutch roll.

[2] Gates Learjet's financial problems ended their collaboration in January 1986, but Piaggio continued the project,[14] and the first prototype flew on 23 September 1986.

[21][22] The first 12 fuselages were manufactured in Wichita, Kansas, with H & H Parts and Plessey Midwest, then flown to Italy for final assembly.

[19] Avanti Aviation Wichita ran out of money in 1994; the project languished until a group of investors led by Piero Ferrari became involved in 1998.

[24] The Avanti II featured uprated Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66B turboprop engines and flies about 18 km/h (11 mph) faster, with better fuel economy; and an all-new "glass panel" avionics suite from Rockwell Collins reduced cockpit clutter.

[25][26] In addition to heading, attitude and navigation information, flat panel color liquid crystal displays add collision avoidance (TCAS), ground proximity (TAWS) and real-time graphic weather depiction.

[28][29] Powered by the same Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66 engines as the Beech Super King Air 200, the Avanti II is 100 knots (190 km/h) faster than that model.

The three-surface design incorporates both a T-tail and a pair of small, fixed forewings having slight anhedral and landing flaps.

[37] The cabin cross-section varies continuously along the length of the aircraft; the shape approximates an NACA airfoil section, and the slowly changing curve helps prolong laminar flow on the front of the fuselage.

Piaggio claims that the fuselage contributes up to 20% of the Avanti's total lift, with the front and rear wing providing the remaining 80%.

The front and rear airfoils are custom sections designed by Jerry Gregorek[40] of Ohio State University's Aeronautical and Astronautical Research Laboratory to achieve a drag-reducing 50% laminar flow at cruise.

The exterior noise level and its higher pitched sound has been shown to be the result primarily of the interaction of the turbine engine exhaust flows and the five-bladed pusher propellers (est.

[48] Alan Parker, chairman of the Naples Municipal Airport Authority's technical committee, described the Avanti as "irritating loud" and compared the high-pitched sound to "fingernails on a chalkboard".

[80] A Piaggio Avanti San Diego-to-Charleston flight in 2003, piloted by Joe Ritchie with co-pilot Steve Fossett, set National Aeronautic Association and Fédération Aéronautique Internationale transcontinental speed records with an average speed of 475.2 knots (880.1 km/h; 546.9 mph),[81] breaking the previous Los Angeles to New York turboprop record of 395.21 knots set by Chuck Yeager in 1986 in a Piper Cheyenne 400LS.

[82] Bulgaria Canada Italy Poland Russia United Arab Emirates On 21 October 2022, Gold's Gym owner Rainer Schaller, his wife, his two children, and two others were killed in the crash of a German-registered Avanti into the ocean near Limón, Costa Rica.