swisstony > The 109E to Cork was not that recent - the new owner purchased the actual helicopter AgustaW had on the booth at Heli-Expo and it was shipped to Eire shortly after.
Robino > Given that the most recently registered A109S globally was #19, it is interesting to note that UK/Eire have had 6 of those 19, including one on the EI register. So your sideswipe at Sloane does not stack up - they are no slouches at selling them even without a representation there to date. The delivery delay must affect all dealers, not just one, as you generally get allocated the number on the line when you pay your deposit. Note that a new 109 arrives in the UK ready for customer delivery apart from the paint, unlike a Eurocopter which sits at Oxford while they add avionics and other equipment for many months,
even for corporate use aircraft, and that's after
their delivery delay... Just putting things in perspective, that's all.
I think the bit we are missing here so far is this. It is interesting to note that there are
ZERO A109S Grand helicopters registered in the US. Is there some issue with them over there? Do they have some new machines delivered there that they cannot register? The only publically announced US order, dating to 2004, was for four for Seattle area EMS operator Airlift Northwest - and they were said recently to be re-considering, for reasons unknown. Smoke/fire...?
Sloane do (or v.soon will) open their doors in Ireland, albeit North rather than the Republic (how technical a difference is that??). LHC are already in the North, McAlpine have plans on Dublin area etc. The huge increase in helicopters throughout Ireland has not been missed by the manufacturers' UK/Eire dealers, so perhaps they were just being cautious to check that the helicopter boom was sustainable and not a temporary blip.
Finally, a sparkly new delivery-hours-only R44 arrived at Gloucestershire just yesterday.... yes, you guessed, in a crate from a US dealer.... So if you are prepared to wait a bit, you can benefit from the $ exchange rate - if you can wait a little, you probably save a little while lining the pockets of the likes of Select Helicopters, who are creating their own niche by forward ordering R44s (
see here) or you wait longer and get one from Heliair or Sloane (I suspect Sloane may now be forward ordering too without having got the customer deal first). You pays your money, you takes your choice.