Boeing is in "final negotiations "with a Belgian buyer for its MD900 Explorer helicopter line, which was effectively orphaned when its two former McDonnell Douglas Helicopters stablemates, the MD500 and 600, were sold in March to Bell Helicopter Textron.
The chief executive of Belgium's Heli Fly, Tom Piron, confirms that talks are taking place over the assembly of the MD900. A Boeing delegation was still visiting Brussels at the end of May.
Piron set up the company two years ago to sell the Explorer and has since succeeded in securing an order for the helicopter from the Belgian police.
Boeing has been tight-lipped on the talks, saying only that it is "-close to finalising an agreement" with a buyer, but adding that a deal is expected to be struck "by the end of July", if not sooner. If the talks are successful, then assembly of the MD900 would be carried out in Belgium at the former air force base at Brustem, near Sint-Truiden. The site is close to the Heli Fly headquarters at Halen.
More than 30 MD900s have been delivered and production is still under way at the Explorer line in Mesa, Arizona, on what Boeing describes as a "sizeable" backlog.
The main reason Bell did not take the MD900 was because of a price conflict with its own light twin. The Bell 427 sells for around $2 million, compared with the MD900's price of around $3.1 million.
Meanwhile, the MD 500/600 lines are being moved gradually to Bell's Mirabel plant in Canada.
Source: Flight International
