Leonardo expands customer support services in Japan with the first Helicopter Maintenance Center in the country

Leonardo and the Japanese company Shizuoka Air Commuter Corporation (SACC) announced the signing of an agreement to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul center at Shizuoka-Mount Fuji Airport. The agreement provides for the start of construction of a new hangar dedicated to 2018, with completion in the fall and opening in the spring of 2019. The center will be dedicated to the highly successful AW109 and AW139 helicopter models in the country, with the capacity to support up to 24 units each year and the possibility to further expand its activities based on market demand. This is the first Helicopter Maintenance Center in Japan, aimed at expanding the support network in the country that already includes four service centers. The status of Center of Excellence is assigned by Leonardo to facilities able to provide the greatest number of services for the benefit of various customers, ensuring the constant satisfaction of specific standards dictated by the needs of operators and keeping in mind the particular characteristics of the market. With over 100 helicopter support centers around the world, Leonardo aims to open at least one Center of Excellence in every market considered strategic. The choice reflects the Company's strong commitment to consider the customer at the center of every activity undertaken, from design to support for the entire product life cycle. Leonardo's regional headquarters in Tokyo supports the growth of the company's helicopter business in Japan from the 2008. 120 helicopters of various types are currently in service in the country, dedicated to various operational roles such as ambulance, public order, search and rescue, fire protection, civil protection, VIP / corporate transport, publishing support and naval utility tasks. Leonardo provides helicopter maintenance in Japan for around 25 years and intends to further strengthen the level of service in the future. The turbine engine helicopter market offers significant opportunities in the coming decades, during which many obsolete machines with modern products will need to be replaced. The new helicopters that could enter Japan each year are more than 30. 
Born in the 1991, Shizuoka Air Commuter Corporation (SACC) is based in Shizuoka Prefecture, where Mount Fuji is located, and has provided operational and maintenance services for helicopters and business jets for 25 years without having recorded any accidents. Since 2015, SACC has also used two GrandNew helicopters produced by Leonardo to support the national helicopter rescue program called Dr. Heli. SACC belongs to the same group as Fuji Dream Airlines (FDA), one of Japan's most successful regional transport companies. 
Leonardo is among the top ten companies in the world in Aerospace, Defense and Security and the leading Italian industrial company. Operational since January 2016 as one company organized in seven business divisions (Helicopters, Airplanes, Aerostructures, Avionics and Space Systems, Electronics for Terrestrial and Naval Defense, Defense Systems, Systems for Security and Information), Leonardo competes on the most important international markets by leveraging its areas of technological and product leadership. Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (LDO), in the 2016 Leonardo recorded consolidated revenues of 12 billion euros and has a significant industrial presence in Italy, the United Kingdom, the USA and Poland.

Leonardo expands customer support services in Japan with the first Helicopter Maintenance Center in the country

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