Airbus Helicopters is to accelerate the start of production of civil EC225 rotorcraft by its Helibras subsidiary in Brazil as it looks to take advantage of the nation’s booming oil and gas segment.
Helibras’s Itajubá facility is already in the process of assembling a total of 50 EC725s – the military variant of the Super Puma – for Brazil’s armed forces.
Airbus Helicopters has long planned to also build the 11t-class EC225 at the site, but was intending to wait until the end of the contract with the military before proceeding.
However, it has now decided to advance its timeline to 2016, says the manufacturer’s chief executive, Guillaume Faury, noting the availability of production slots at Helibras.
The move has been prompted by two main factors. The airframer’s main EC225 line at Marignane, France, is already sold out until at least late 2017, so Itajubá is seen as an ideal means of increasing production capacity.
And Faury also points to a number of tenders recently issued by state-owned oil company Petrobras for helicopter transportation covering a total of 31 aircraft.
Petrobras representatives have already toured the Itajubá plant, he says. “They are very interested to have those products sporting ‘made in Brazil’ for [a] Brazilian operation,” he says.
Airbus Helicopters
“That is why we have decided not to wait until the end of the EC725 contract to take EC225s from Brazil. For that country it makes sense to have locally produced helicopters. It is the obvious choice.”
Faury believes sales of the EC225 have now recovered following the gearbox issues in late 2012 that caused the majority of the global fleet to be grounded for almost 12 months.
“The incidents on the EC225 meant that as a consequence it had a level of bookings that was very low for 18 months. Now we see the order book strengthening again,” he says.
Meanwhile, Helibras continues to increase the pace of EC725 deliveries from the site. On 17 September it announced it had now handed over six aircraft this year, with the latest example going to Brazil’s air force.
In all, 14 helicopters from the 50-unit deal are now in service and have accumulated around 6,200h, says Helibras.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
