Bell Helicopter (stand A73) chief executive Richard Millman has been running Textron businesses for most of the past 22 years. He was appointed to lead Bell in January 2007, following the ousting of former chief executive Michael Redenbaugh. Since then, the company has endured the termination of the US Army's $6 billion ARH-70 Lakota contract, and faced new uncertainty in the civil market. Stephen Trimble interviews Millman about the company's plans for the future

You know there's been talk in the past about a new medium twin from Bell. Is that still something on your radar?

Yes. We are talking about a medium twin helicopter, honing in on exactly what we're going to do and when we're going to do it.

Richard Millman - Bell Helicopter 
 

Any particular timeline do you have in mind for those kinds of decisions?

I would say within the next few months. We've been talking about this, analysing it and looking at data for some time. In the background, we've been doing technology work that enables certain things in the final product, and all that gets to come together, probably later this year some time. But, I'll tell you, what I plan to do is not something I generally announce. I intend to announce things when I've done it.

When you think of a medium twin from Bell, what are the things Bell can do to differentiate itself in that segment?

Yes. [Laughs.] I'm not being very forthcoming for reasons you understand

How do you bring in new products at this time? You brought up Cessna and obviously the business jet outlook is what it is right now. It doesn't seem like helicopters are facing that kind of challenge, but it certainly isn't the market it was a year or two ago.

I certainly agree with that. There's a significant difference between the business jet side of things and the helicopter side, in the sense that most of the business jets are corporate aircraft.

There is a large fraction of the helicopter market where people are using the helicopter for business reasons other than just for transport. So the market needs are different, and what happens in an up-and-down economy is different.

Bell has certainly had plenty of cancelled orders, in large part because of an inability to finance them.

But, on the other hand, the company still has a very healthy backlog and continues to ship product very close at the planned rate.

Back in January, Bell received three orders. How have orders been since?

Our order rate has diminished substantially from where it was say six months ago. I think everyone has seen that. But the backlog is very healthy. So today you say, okay, how long can this recession last? And, the orderbook, when will that in fact speed up? And do we have the backlog to get through that trough? Those are questions we work on every day.

Source: Flight Daily News