Thu, May 02, 2013
First Aircraft Off The Line Slated For Delivery In 2015
A final assembly line for the new generation AW169 helicopter will be established at AgustaWestland's Philadelphia facility located at Northeast Philadelphia Airport. The first Philadelphia-built AW169 helicopter will be inducted into the final assembly in May 2014 and will be delivered to the first customer in early-2015. The new production line will ramp up to produce around 20 aircraft per year by 2017. Incorporating a lean advanced manufacturing philosophy, the new AW169 production line will be scalable to accommodate production escalations based on market demand. Also AgustaWestland’s facilities in Vergiate (Italy) and Yeovil (UK) will play major roles in the manufacturing activities for the AW169 program.
William Hunt, CEO, AgustaWestland Philadelphia said “This is an exciting day for the team. As a major producer of commercial helicopters in the United States, we are pleased to further expand our production portfolio to include the AW169. The arrival of the AW169 production line will secure and create jobs here in Philadelphia and within our supply chain in North America. We have been in Philadelphia for over 30 years and have realized tremendous growth in servicing and supporting the commercial helicopter market over the past 10 years.”
“The AW169 has generated an exceptionally good response in the market place since its launch securing orders for more than 80 aircraft," Hunt said. "As the only new generation helicopter in its class for more than 30 years we believe it will be a great success and we are proud that the AW169 will be assembled in Philadelphia for our customers in the United States and around the world.”
More than 80 AW169 helicopters have now been ordered for a wide range of missions including corporate transport, air ambulance, law enforcement, utility and offshore transport. With all four prototypes already flying, the AW169 is on schedule to achieve civil certification in 2014.
(Image provided by AgustaWestland)
More News
Airbus Racer Demonstrator Makes Inaugural Flight Airbus Helicopters' ambitious Racer demonstrator has achieved its inaugural flight as part of the Clean Sky 2 initiative, a corners>[...]
A little Bit Quieter, Said Testers, But in the End it's Still a DA40 Diamond Aircraft recently completed a little pilot project with Lufthansa Aviation Training, putting a pair of >[...]
Line Up And Wait (LUAW) Used by ATC to inform a pilot to taxi onto the departure runway to line up and wait. It is not authorization for takeoff. It is used when takeoff clearance >[...]
Contributing To The Accident Was The Pilot’s Use Of Methamphetamine... Analysis: The pilot departed on a local flight to perform low-altitude maneuvers in a nearby desert val>[...]
From 2015 (YouTube Version): Overcoming Obstacles To Achieve Their Dreams… At EAA AirVenture 2015, FedEx arrived with one of their Airbus freight-hauling aircraft and placed>[...]