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
Runway Lead-in Light System Runway Lead-in Light System Consists of one or more series of flashing lights installed at or near ground level that provides positive visual guidance a>[...]
Aero Linx: Aviation Without Borders Aviation Without Borders uses its aviation expertise, contacts and partnerships to enable support for children and their families – at hom>[...]
Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories ITBOA BNITBOB ... what does that mean? It's not gibberish, it's a lengthy acronym for "In The Business Of Aviation ... But Not In The Busine>[...]
From 2010 (YouTube Version): Yeah.... This IS A Really Cool Job When ANN's Nathan Cremisino took over the lead of our Aero-TV teams, he knew he was in for some extra work and a lot>[...]
Also: Junkers A50 Heritage, Montaer Grows, Dynon-Advance Flight Systems, Vans' Latest Officially, the Carbon Cub UL and Rotax 916 iS is now in its 'market survey development phase'>[...]