A multi-engine, instrument rated pilot, James Wynbrandt has been an AIN and Business Jet Traveler contributor since 2003. His in-depth reporting and insightful features have won more than a dozen editorial honors, including two National Business Aviation Association Gold Wing Awards (2019; 2021), and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Barron’s, Fortune, Forbes, and Smithsonian Air &amp; Space. He has flown his Mooney M20K 252 on assignments throughout North and Central America and the Caribbean. Wynbrandt is also the author of Flying High (Wiley &amp; Sons), a biography of Jet Blue founder David Neeleman, as well as histories, references works, and books on a variety of other topics from major publishers. He lives in New York City.

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James Wynbrandt

Leonardo Helicopters (Chalet P8, Static S18) has taken action to reverse this year’s poor financial performance. “2017 will be the bottom,” recently appointed managing director Gian Piero Cutillo said at the Dubai Airshow 2017. “I expect profits starting next year, so that’s what we say to the financial community. We’re not afraid and concerned about the medium or long term.”

 


The Leonardo Group's third-quarter financial results "reflect the ongoing challenges that the helicopter business is facing,” he said, citing “unfavorable market conditions” and “industrial performance below expectations.”

 


Cutillo added that the helicopter division didn’t properly manage the configuration process for orders, resulting in rework; or manage its own materials orders–among other internal problems. But “the change has been made [to address the situation]," he told AIN.

 


The AW609 Tiltrotor is among the programs that have dragged on profitability. At the 2015 ﻿Dubai Airshow, the UAE's Joint Aviation Command announced plans to order three AW609s in search-and-rescue configuration with an option for an additional three, but no firm order has emerged. Cutillo said at this year’s air show, “The launch customer could be the UAE,” adding that the search-and-rescue configuration “is one of the options.”

 


Leonardo is exhibiting, along with a mockup of the AW609 cabin in search-and-rescue configuration, the latest generation AW169 and the AWHero rotary UAS.

 


More than 230 of the company’s new-generation civil and military rotorcraft have been ordered by Middle East customers to date, it said﻿, augmented by comprehensive support and training agreements. The regional fleet includes the legacy AW109 and the AW139, along with new-generation AW189 and AW169 models, popular for supporting oil and gas operations and VVIP transport duties. About 90 percent of the UAE’s VVIP rotorcraft fleet is comprised of Leonardo aircraft.

 


Going forward, Cutillo said he wants to make the helicopter division “a service company. That doesn’t mean we stop making helicopters, but we’d like to improve on the service side. Support for the customer is the number one priority for us,” which will require “a change of culture, and that will be where I would put a lot of effort.”

 


Formerly known as Finmeccanica and Leonardo Finmeccanica, the Italian company was rebranded this year as Leonardo (in homage to Leonardo Da Vinci), following the integration of subsidiaries including AgustaWestland, Alenia Aermacchi and DRS Technologies.

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