21st, thanks for your thoughts.
I'm not against the Tilt Roter concept, I just think that as it stands today, the lack of pax for the range makes it unlikely to be a wild commercial success. The cabin is tiny for a start so the VIP/ royalty might not be that enamored with it. I can absolutely see the utility in the advantages of the concept which tilt rotor brings, I just don't think a 700nm range 9 pax ac is the winner. The energy market will be the nice earner that the whole project is based on. AW are not going to get their investment back on selling 30 in the Gulf to every rich member of a royal family IMHO, esp if they already have private jets.
When they can bring a roughly similar sized foot print version with a bigger cabin (15 pax ish) and 1000nm range it will be a huge increase in capability etc over EC225 or S92 with a tank(s).
Happy to be proved wrong but right now my risk averse nature thinks this will be close but no cigar as the investment case doesn't quite yet bring game changing capability.
FYI as a comparison EC225 in oil and gas slick mode is about $25m with a tank fitted and will give you up to about 250nm each way range.