Helicopter manufacturers are in-creasingly confident that hurdles to rotorcraft being used in business aviation have been cleared in Europe, which could pave the way to increased sales within the region.
Representatives from AgustaWestland, Bell Helicopter and Eurocopter, speaking at last month's European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition in Geneva, said issues with noise, all-weather capability and safety concerns have been largely overcome and they expect greater use of VIP-configured helicopters for flights in western Europe.
Dominique Olbec, vice-president of marketing for Eurocopter, says: "Using business jets gives a great productivity gain, but that is lost if you get stuck in traffic, so a helicopter will become a complement to business jets, not a replacement." Helicopters suffered from an image problem in the 1980s and 1990s following some high-profile fatal accidents involving musicians including Stevie Ray Vaughan, but improvements to aircraft systems have eliminated these fears, he adds.
Don Barbour, Bell/Agusta Aerospace executive director for sales and marketing, says efforts to reduce helicopter vibration have brought cabin and exterior noise down to acceptable levels. He adds that the modern generation of twin-engined helicopters such as the Bell/Agusta AB139 and Eurocopter AS355N have sufficient range and speed to be used for missions of up to 925km (500nm).
Source: Flight International
