HeliVert’s Tomilino plant, near Moscow, will have the capacity to assemble up to 20 helicopters per year, with production to start later this year and progressively increase to a steady state regime by 2015. The total headcount at maximum capacity will be over 100 people. The plant will meet the growing demand for the AW139 helicopter in both Russian and CIS civil markets. A Heads of Agreement was signed by AgustaWestland and Russian Helicopters in Farnborough in July 2008 for the purpose of establishing a joint venture to set up and run a civil AW139 final assembly line in Russia. This was followed by the Joint Venture Agreement signed on November 6, 2008 during the Italy-Russia intergovernmental summit held at the Kremlin in Moscow and attended by the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. A shareholder agreement was subsequently signed in June 2010 paving the path to start building the plant in Tomilino. UTair Aviation JSC is the world’s largest helicopter operator in terms of carrying capacity and number of rotorcraft, with more than 330 helicopters of all classes. UTair is the largest helicopter service provider to the United Nations, with cooperation agreements since1992. In Russia core clients for UTair helicopter services are leading oil and gas companies. In 2011, UTair helicopter operations will span across Russia and ten foreign countries, with a 6.5% increase in the volume of export services. Russian Helicopters JSC is an affiliated company of UIC Oboronprom. It is the managing body of the following helicopter industry enterprises: Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, Kamov, Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant, Kazan Helicopters, Rostvertol, Progress Arsenyev Aviation Company, Kumertau Aviation Production Enterprise, Stupino Machine Production Plant, Reductor-PM, Helicopter Service Company (VSK).

Source and photo: AgustaWestland