JUSTIN WASTNAGE / GENOA & OVADA
For Adelbert Frommer, managing director of DF Helicopters, the attraction of the US market is obvious. He estimates there is an annual demand for around 500 of his company's two-seat training helicopters in the USA, compared with fewer than 300 in Europe. This, and the difficult regulatory environment for ultra-light rotary-wing aircraft across Europe, made US penetration a priority for Frommer when he took over the defunct company in 2001.
DF Helicopters United States, due to be incorporated in Colorado this year, will focus on entering the flight school market next year, ahead of serial production and US Federal Aviation Administration certification of its Dragon 334 GP helicopter. Guido Polidoro, chief engineer for DF Helicopters, says the re-engineered Dragon 334 GP is ideal for export, adding that the market in Italy cannot support the planned 1,000-unit annual production rate.
After the USA, DF Helicopters will focus on the Russian and Chinese markets, where the demand for the €125,000 ($142,000) helicopter is "unimaginable", says Frommer.
Frommer is not alone in looking for export opportunities. As demand for its P180 Avanti twin-turboprop accelerates, Genoa-based Piaggio plans to use a recent €20 million recapitalisation to start aircraft completion and avionics integration work at its Greenville, North Carolina plant. Piaggio president José Di Mase says he has always seen the USA as a top priority. "As soon as we started the production line, we were aware that 70% of our sales would be in the USA." Piaggio's former owners had concentrated on the niche handmade aircraft market in southern Europe, so Di Mase's new management had to start from scratch in the USA.
But despite the perceived similarity of its Avanti to the ill-fated Beech Starship, which initially discouraged US buyers, Piaggio America has now established sufficient demand in North America to permit the company to move towards full capacity at its two Italian sites. The increased production rate will reduce lead time, says Di Mase; last year 14 P180s were produced, which will be raised to 22 next year and to 26 by 2005. Most of these are destined for the USA.
Source: Flight International
