Notar or not to notar, after looking at the parent companies of the 3 light helicopter makers, I found the following;
1. The EADS eurocopter company made
43.3 billion euro's in 2008 according to Eurcopter's website, and EADS employ a workforce of 118,000 people. They appear to be concentrating on building aircraft, and not buying and selling companies to make a buck.
2. MD seem to be a smaller setup and I think they now produce a couple of airframes. The MD company partners LT and Joep seem to specialise in buying and selling distressed companies (trucks, make up kits, tassles, tanks etc) and then closing them after a few years such as RDM?
3. AugustaWestland appear to be a very large Anglo Italian company with large revenues and military contracts in both countries. The partnership has been running for 20 years according to their website with large order books for various arframes.
If I was an ambulance charity, police force, or a rich individual who was about to purchase a new multi million pound helicopter I would be looking closely at the support network of the helicopter manufacturer, and especially at the people who are behind the brand name, which may have changed hands a few times over 10 years?
Its the same if you were buying a car, if you werent sure of the parts network for a car in future years, you probably wouldnt buy the car would you?
I've flown in all 3 a/c 902, 135 and 109, and the 109 was the fastest and most modern cab from a drivers point of view, the 135 was the least smooth but is a modern cockpit, and the 902 seems to have more room in the back compared to the other 2.
That said, the EADS and AugustaWestland companies appear to be in it for the long run and concentrate of manufacturing aircraft, but I'm not so sure about MD and what LT and Joep have in mind?
