The P2012 is one of the few all new airplanes in its class, a piston twin with room for about ten passengers. Tecnam designed it following the need of Cape Air to replace its vast fleet of Cessna 402s. The P2012 is a high wing twin aircraft with a fixed, all single wheel landing gear. The main gear is attached to small stubs. Typical are the nearly elliptical cabin windows, actually having a race track shape, and the slightly bent up wingtips. In the wing leading edges are horizontally opposed piston engines.

The different versions of the P2012 can be identified by looking at

• the number of propeller blades
  
• the shape of the nacelles
  
• the wingspan
  

The original P2012, called Traveller, has propellers with four blades as key recognition point. The nacelles have a rectangular cooler intake at the bottom.

Introduced as a true competitor of the BN-2 Islander this version has a better take-off and landing performance than the standard Traveller. On the outside in can best be recognised by the engines: these turbocharged piston engines have the prop axis higher in the nacelle and no cooler inlet at the bottom. Also, the propeller has only three blades. Finally, the wingspan has been increased by 2.6 metres.