Eurocopter Inaugurates India Unit

(By Avaition Week) Eurocopter recently inaugurated its new Indian subsidiary, Eurocopter India Pvt. Ltd., which is headquartered in New Delhi and has an existing facility in Bangalore for the management of industrial activity. An engineering center is to be established in Bangalore next year, along with the opening of a new commercial office in Mumbai.
Eurocopter India has 30 employees, and the workforce is expected to grow substantially during the coming years as the company expands its presence in the country. Eurocopter currently has 23 civil and government customers in India.
“The Indian helicopter industry has great potential for expansion, given the country’s expanding economy, its size and challenging terrain, as well as the industrial potential,” says Eurocopter India CEO Marie-Agnès Veve. “Eurocopter is the world’s first major helicopter manufacturer to establish a subsidiary in India,” he adds, “which underscores our objective of being a key player in this very important marketplace.”
“The Indian helicopter sector has been growing at an annual rate of 20%, and our ambition is to become this country’s No. 1 supplier for the civilian, government and para-public markets,” says Joseph Saporito, Eurocopter’s executive vice president for commercial helicopters. “The Eurocopter India subsidiary is part of our company’s continuing investment in staff, resources and services to achieve this objective.”Eurocopter India plans to develop a countrywide maintenance, repair and overhaul network by building on existing local assets and partnerships. This includes an agreement with Pawan Hans Helicopter Ltd. — the world’s largest civil operator of AS365 Dauphins — for an in-country MRO operation to service these twin-engine helicopters, along with the installation of an AS365 full-flight simulator for crew training. Eurocopter says it also plans to expand its 40-year industrial relationship with Hindustan Aeronautics, which has produced 600 of the company’s Lama and Alouette III helicopters under license and today manufactures 100 shipsets of components per year for AS550/AS350 helicopters.
Separately, Eurocopter recently signed a strategic agreement that will establish in December a 50/50 joint venture in Kazakhstan to assemble EC145 helicopters. Kazakhstan has committed to buy 45 of these locally assembled aircraft for government missions in the country over the next six years. Initial deliveries of the first six helicopters, designated KH145, are to begin by late 2011.