For many years the preserve of Russian helicopters, Eastern Europe is slowly
but surely welcoming helicopters from the West. Eurocopter enjoys many advantages
in this patchwork region of 20 or so countries and intends to play a major role.
Geographically the region runs east-west from Slovenia
to the Sakhalin Islands in the North Pacific, and northsouth
from the Arctic Circle to the western border of
China. Two-thirds of the Eurocopter fleet are clustered in
four countries: Russia (24%), Romania (14%), the Czech
Republic (13%), and Bulgaria (13%). It should therefore
come as no surprise that Eurocopter first opened a subsidiary
(Eurocopter Romania) in 2001 in Romania, where
the company had long before forged strong ties during
the manufacture of the Puma and Alouette III under
license, nor that Eurocopter went on to create a subsidiary
in Russia (Eurocopter Vostok) in 2006.
Today a total of 174 Eurocopter helicopters grace the
skies of Eastern Europe. Two helicopters, the EC120
and EC135, have been particularly successful, each of
them accounting for 17% of the fleet in service. Steady
growth has been experienced over the last three years
on the corporate (44%), EMS (17%), homeland security
(14%) and military (13%) markets. Sixty percent of the
current fleet is made up of former range helicopters that
will come up for replacement in 5 to 10 years time.
Development Goals
The corporate market operators perceive the helicopter
as a time-saver and the wealthiest ones as a beautiful
object they can afford. The sector is really thriving and
growth is expected to hit the double digits over the next
3 to 5 years, and naturally Eurocopter is planning to help itself to a major slice of the action.
Eurocopter also wants to develop its share in the military
market, intending to become the reference supplier for
the countries which joined NATO in 1999 (Poland, Czech
Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary) and in 2004 (Slovenia,
Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia). Two
of these countries have already acquired Eurocopter
machines: Slovenia with the AS532 AL Cougar, and
Bulgaria with the AS565 MB Panther and AS532 AL
Cougar. But the main focus will no doubt soon shift to
Poland, where a program for more than 100 helicopters
is due to be launched. Perhaps this will be the first time
for the NH90 to enter in a competitive bid in Eastern
Europe.
A third growth objective for Eurocopter is to capitalize on
the push for homeland security in the countries which
have Schengen borders and which joined the European
Union in 2004 (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) and in 2007 (Bulgaria and
Romania). Russia and Central Asia (CIS) will also be targeted
by this development effort. The EC135 is already
well placed on the market and the EC145 is off to a
promising start.
And in the oil & gas sector, the opening of the
Kazakhstan market, the oil reserves in the Caspian Sea
and the planned import tax exoneration will create a
demand for Western helicopters, and Eurocopter is set
to seize this golden opportunity.
