missed by only a few days, as Transport
Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) granted
its certification on July 1. The 429 has also
completed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification requirements,
and Bell expected to begin initial deliveries in July.
Bell currently has about 300 letters of
intent for the 429, which it now hopes to
convert to firm orders — and increased
down payments. Over 60 percent of these
orders come from international customers, so Bell is hopeful that the 429 will help
re-establish the company as a player in the
global marketplace.
Like most aerospace manufacturers,
Bell is jumping onto the “green” bandwagon. The company’s efforts so far
are limited, however, to creating a “new
enterprise wide eco-innovation initiative
aimed at evaluating its products using a
life cycle assessment.” In other words, says
Craig Lieberman, who has been appointed to lead this effort: “We have started
to evaluate our products and operations
… to determine the total impact of our
manufacturing efforts with the goal of a
substantial reduction in all areas.”
What this brings to the table, other than
good will, is unclear, but meanwhile Bell
is stressing the 429’s eco-friendly features,
which it says include low noise, lower fuel
consumption and the significant use of
composites to reduce the overall weight of
the aircraft.
Boeing’s Rotorcraft Division held a rare
press conference at the show, highlighting
not only its venerable Ch- 47 Chinook,
V- 22 Osprey and AH-64 Apache, but also
its AH-6i light attack helicopter and various conceptual studies it is working on to
meet future heavy lift requirements.
Boeing, despite having only a limited
product range, booked record orders in
2008 and projects strong annual growth
through 2015. In the military business,
this upbeat view is also shared by its
competitors; it is only the commercial
helicopter business that has suffered some
cancellations, and a slowing of orders, due
to the global economic recession. However, given the huge backlog of commercial
orders enjoyed by most manufacturers,
with the exception of Bell, any decrease
of orders could have a silver lining, by
reducing the frankly excessive delivery
times that have no doubt dissuaded some
perspective customers.
Russia Redux?
Russia’s helicopter industry was back with
an upbeat message at the show, after a
decade or two of aimless to- and fro-ing
during which it wasted time and money
and let its Western competitors take a
gigantic head-start that Russia may never
be able to make up.
The Russian Helicopters Joint Stock
Company (RH) managing company, an
affiliate of UIC Oboronprom, said that the
consolidation of the Russian helicopter
industry has entered its final stage, and that
it is aggressively developing its research
and production capacity.
To catch up with its global competitors, RH is finishing its own R&D centre in
Moscow’s suburban Panki, and new engineering centre, test production line, and
Bell 429
research centre are also nearing completion, it says. Ultimately, Russian Helicopters wants to take a 15 percent share of
the global market but, in the short term, it
recognized that the challenge is to use its
profits to modernize and to raise the competitiveness of its products, rather than to
offset losses.
The shortest-term target is the launch
of the new Mi- 38, Ka-62, Ansat, and Ka-
226T models. However, given the relatively
old technologies of these helicopters, it is
doubtful whether they will raise any significant interest in the market.
Russian Helicopters is going to keep
the current production line, retaining
the heavy helicopter segment and gradually expanding the midsize and light segments. The main goal is to keep hold of
traditional markets. These are first of all
India, China, Africa, and partly SouthEast Asia. The company is planning to
expand to Latin America, become stronger in Southeast Asia, and keep its positions in India and China.
While building its new product line, RH
will concentrate on offering upgrades for its
family of Mi-8/- 17 Hip medium transport
helicopters, for which it foresees stable
demand until 2020 and for which it plans a
glass cockpit (to be completed by the end of
2009) and modern avionics suite.
Despite the abundance of news,
helicopter manufacturers announced
few new contracts or sales during the
show. The total adds up to 19 helicopters,
which is a modest tally by any measure:
10 for AgustaWestland (three AW109s,
five AW119Kes, and two Grands plus
two options), seven for Eurocopter (six
Ecureuils and a single EC135), and two
412EPs for Bell. If the number of sales during the show was disappointing, manufacturers like Eurocopter and Agusta Westland
are already seeing the beginning of a recovery in the commercial market.
The big, unanswered question at the
show was whether the industry has already
passed the worst of the recession or whether, in a “W” recovery scenario, a harsher dip
is to be feared for 2010 before the recovery
begins. And this question remains as valid
after the show as it was before.
