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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 1303.PDF
licopters After years of depression, the French helicopter industry is suddenly on the up Helicopters on the rise FRANCE'S HELICOPTER industry is poised for a comeback after several years of steadily declining fortunes during which, in common wirJi helicopter manufactur ers elsewhere, die recession hit civil and military sales particularly hard. In 1996, however, the industry saw real signs of progress, with orders up by an astonishing 75%. Much of this was because of success in winning export orders, which accounted for no less dian 90% of die total - French Government orders having virtually dried up as reduced government spending took effect. Since 1991, France's helicopter industry has been inextricably linked to that of Germany dirough die Eurocopter consortium, in which it has a 70% stake. A major milestone in 1997 will see put in place the final elements of the process of creating Eurocopter as die first totally inte grated European aeronautics group. This will leave it is a fully operational company in its own right rather than as four separate companies operating under French law (Eurocopter SA, Eurocopter France, Eurocopter International and Eurocopter Participations) and Eurocopter Deutschland under German law. The revised organisation will, according to Eurocopter's French president, Jean-Francois Bigay, be directed strongly towards improving customer service, productivity and efficiency, and will be built around new business centres, responsible for technical, industrial and eco nomic performance, supported by centres of expertise taking care of research and develop ment, oriented towards the business centres. A single management structure will be responsible for bodi die French and German entities, with Eurocopter directors exercising their functions across the board. The result, as far as die cus tomer is concerned, will be a more easily iden tifiable organisation built around die Eurocopter name. The company's headquarters has also been moved, to Marignanne, in the south of France. Last year's successful results were a breadi of fresh air for Eurocopter. Total sales of 228 ma chines were broken down into 64% military and 36% civil. Of the 10% of domestic orders, only 2.6% came from the French Government, high lighting the export challenge now under way. EXPORTS UP 10% The 228 total sales consisted of 109 single- engined and 23 twin-engined Ecureuils, 23 Bo 105s, five BK117s, 18 EC 13 5s, 21 Dauphin/Panthers and 29 Cougar/Super Pu mas. Orders taken for both new and used machines were worth Frl2 billion ($2.1 billion), with turnover at a similar level to that of 1995, at Fr9.3 billion. Exports were up by 10% over the previous year. "In die face of shrinking procure ment funding everywhere, and the resulting extremely tough competition," says Bigay, "Eurocopter rallied to the challenge with unprecedented determination." In 1996, the alliance succeeded in closing several crucial deals with Spain, Saudi Arabia and die United Arab Emirates, marking Eurocopter's return to the Middle East market after its expulsion following die Gulf War. The group now says diat it has cap tured roughly 20% of die global military market, not including the USA and CIS, marking a recovery to 1992/3 levels. Despite die difficult years, Eurocopter, which claims the widest range of helicopters in the world in the 2.5-lOt class, has maintained its con tinuing development programmes and has suc ceeded in fielding two new civil helicopters, die four-seat, single-engined EC 120, in co-opera tion with China and Singapore and the seven/eight-seat, twin-powerplant EC 13 5. During 1996, it also continued development of new versions of existing machines, witii par ticular emphasis on offering customers more flexibility on purchase and operating costs. The Cougar 100 (which will be flown for die first time in die summer) will dius be marketed as a lighter, lower purchase-and-operating cost alternative to the more sophisticated Cougar Mkll, while in die civil and public service sectors, die N3 ver sion of the Dauphin and B3 version of the single- engined Ecureuil (due for certification in November) offer improved performance, enabling, says Eurocopter, "an approach to a broader market base". Helicopters in the medi um-lift segment have also received upgrades aimed at reducing costs. The biggest recent event was the market launch of the new EC 120 Colibri at the Helicopter Association International (HAI) show in Anaheim, California, in February. WitJi almost 20 machines sold during the show, the new helicopter is off to a good start, and Eurocopter will now embark on a campaign to secure as much as possible of an estimated market sized at between 1,500-2,000 machines. It is die first all-new helicopter in the 1.5t class for many years, and in many cases is competing with heli copters designed 30 years ago. The three-bladed rotor design uses Eurocopter's Spheriflex all-composite bearing- less hub widi parabolic-section blade-tip fairings A FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL SUPPLEMENT |
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