AgustaWestland expects to equal or surpass Airbus Helicopters in overall value of commercial aircraft delivered for the first time when official results for 2013 are released later this year, says chief executive Daniele Romiti.
“We think that we are now almost at a par or even slightly ahead of our longtime rival Eurocopter in terms of value of deliveries in the commercial market,” Romiti says in a press conference on the eve of Heli-Expo 2014.
“This could be a first,” he says.
That AgustaWestland is even near parity with the recently rebranded French and German manufacturer speaks to the Italian company’s rapid growth over the past decade.
AgustaWestland started 10 years ago with a 12% share of a commercial aircraft market worth $2.4 billion at list prices.
Final results are not yet officially tabulated, but AgustaWestland expects to finish 2013 with a 28% share of a market worth $5.53 billion, Romiti says.
“We had to grow an average of 20% in terms of compound annual growth rate,” he says. “This is twice the Chinese [economic] growth rate.”
AgustaWestland’s position since 2004 was buoyed by the launch of three core multi-engine helicopters spanning a range between 4t-8t: the developmental AW169 medium-twin, AW139 intermediate and the recently certificated AW189 super-medium.
The company’s rapid growth has been sustained despite significant challenges, including a partial falling-out with AW139 and AW609 development partner Bell Helicopter. AgustaWestland remains under scrutiny for allegations of bribery on a deal with the Indian government, which led to the arrest of former chief executive Giuseppi Orsi by Italian law enforcement early last year.
Romiti reminded a press conference at Heli-Expo that “all allegations remain unproven”, and that the chief of the Indian air force reiterates that the AW101s involved in the deal are still desired.
Meanwhile, AgustaWestland expects to keep growing despite a market that a Honeywell forecast suggests will plateau after a three-year growth spurt.
The same Honeywell survey forecasts a slight shift in demand to multi-engine helicopters, which favour AgustaWestland’s product portfolio, says Roberto Garavagila, senior vice-president of strategy and business development.
“It was interesting to see that the outlook looks better for the mutli-engine than the single-engine helicopter,” Garavagila says, adding with a grin, “All [forecast] models are wrong, but in some cases they can be useful. In this case they were useful.”
Source: FlightGlobal.com
