On 22 June 2006, Eurocopter signed an agreement with Gazpromavia to open a Eurocopterapproved maintenance center in Russia. Eurocopter has therefore become the first Western helicopter manufacturer to open such a facility, certified according to European standards, in the Russian Federation.

Moscow-based, Gazpromavia is one of the world’s biggest oil companies and will perform O and I level maintenance, and repair and overhaul operations, on the Russian EC120 B Colibri fleet. To staff this new center, Russian technicians were trained by Eurocopter in 2005. “This agreement is strategic,” confided Andrey Ovcharenko, the CEO of Gazpromavia, during the contract signing. “The Russian helicopter market is growing fast; more and more Russian operators want Eurocopter products, and we are now there for them to ensure the maximum availability of their aircraft. We already have experience of the EC120s we are operating, and we want to extend our MRO (Maintenance Repair and Overhaul) offer to the whole Eurocopter civil range of aircraft( 1), which is appealing more and more to Russian customers. Based at Ostafievo airport, near Moscow, we also plan to move into the business aviation and VIP sectors, and we are completely convinced that Eurocopter will have a big success in Russia in the very near future.” Jérôme Noulens, the CEO of Eurocopter Vostok, the Eurocopter subsidiary in Russia, emphasized: “We are delighted to be working with Gazpromavia. This bona fide partnership has been made possible by the agreement that we have just signed.