Helicopter Market on the Rebound!

As I am writing this, I am preparing to attend Helitech International 2017 in London England. 

This year’s show, which is collocated with the MRO Europe show, is taking place near the end of an optimistic year in helicopter sales. According to a report by GAMA in August, “The rotorcraft industry delivered 465 aircraft in the first six months of 2017, an increase of 16.8 percent compared to the same period of last year. The value of the deliveries was $1.9 billion compared to $1.5 billion in 2016.”

Gama says that shipments of piston rotorcraft increased from 116 in 2016, to 127 in 2017. The turbine rotorcraft unit shipments increased from 282 last year to 338 in 2017, a 19.9 percent increase.

*NOTE: GAMA published second quarter airplane shipment and billing data on August 15.

Certainly this brings about a great deal of optimism in the helicopter industry. Companies such as Erickson and CHC have emerged from bankruptcy (in large part due to a busy fire-fighting season) and some the OEMs have been investing time in new concept aircraft and platforms.

At Helicopter Maintenance magazine, we too remain optimistic about the future of the helicopter industry. So much so that we are ending the year with our first ever attendance at a European helicopter trade show! In addition, we are re-launching and re-designing our website to better serve our readers.

One of the upgrades to our site is the ability for you to log in and create an account. The benefits of this is that you will now be able to manage your subscription and change/update your contact/mailing information on
your own.

Don’t worry — our subscription is still free and if you aren’t getting a print copy of our publication, you can read it online at any time.

Helicopter Maintenance continues to be the ONLY magazine exclusively written for the helicopter maintenance professional. We encourage our readers to make frequent contact with our advertiser/supporters and let them know that you appreciate their support. There is no reason that Helicopter Maintenance magazine can’t continue to grow and support the people that are most critical to keeping helicopters flying safely — helicopter maintenance professionals.  

Thanks for reading!

- Greg