Agusta went into Heli-Expo 2000 and the next millennium on the heels of an excellent year and with a brand-new success. On Tuesday 25th, in ceremonies at Bell/Agusta Aerospace Company booth, Helitech Industries of Sydney, Australia, signed up for an AB139 multirole twin-engine helicopter. This order closely follow the Bristow Helicopters Group's one. The British company ordered two AB139 at Helitech '99 in September. A military version of the AB139 will be introduced this summer at Farnborough 2000.
At Heli-Expo was also announced that the A119 Koala has received the Italian certification in late December. The FAA approval is expected next month, with deliveries to begin in May. The A119 Koala is the uncompromised solution to a market demand which requires a single-engine helicopter for passenger transport and aerial work with larger cabin and higher operational flexibility. The Agusta exhibit booth featured an A109 Power in corporate configuration owned and operated by Electro-Methods. In total 1999 helicopters sales, the A109 model outsold Agusta competitor's light twin putting the Company in first place in the light-medium twin market segment.
Agusta's commercial success and the Company's three-point strategy for the year 2000 are based on products and technology, international alliances and customer focus. By the year 2002, Agusta will offer to its customers the most modern and complete product line available from any helicopter manufacturer. To achieve these results in terms of products, Agusta has invested heavily in technological development, achieving excellence in the core helicopter competencies such as the dynamics and the systems integration.
In 1999 Agusta has started three new industrial collaboration of significance. One is with CATIC/AVIC for the transmission of a new Chinese helicopter in the 6 tons category, a second one is with Boeing that will be Agusta-GKN Westland partner on the EH101 for the Canadian MHP program and the third one is with Denel, which became Agusta partner for the military version of the A109 not only for the South African project, but also for international customers. Agusta's collaborations with other manufacturers are driven by business opportunities that can truly bring increased value and benefits for the companies.
Besides products, technologies and international alliance, customer support remains the Agusta's top priority. Customer satisfaction is part of Company's strategy, bounds to optimise service level and communication with all the Operators. Agusta takes a commitment with its Customer: hearing their voice and turning into a Customer focused company. Meeting or exceeding customer expectations in terms of cost, quality and responsiveness is the Company's strategy to face the challenges of the year 2000.
In 1999 Agusta continued to improve its performances, with revenues of approximately US0 800 million. The order backlog stood at more than US0 2,5 billion at year-end with export orders accounting for about 50% of total order backlog. Agusta's 1999 world-wide deliveries totalled 64 helicopters, of which 19 were to the military sector and 45 to the civil.
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Agusta : Annual Wrap-Up and Heli-Expo 2000 Highlights
