Leonardo: new Support Center in Brazil to enhance technical assistance services for the helicopter fleet in South America
Leonardo announced today the enhancement of its technical assistance capabilities for the South American helicopter fleet through the construction of a new Support Center in Itapevi, 30 km from San Paolo. The foundation stone ceremony was celebrated in the presence of local and Italian authorities and industry representatives. The new structure, built by Leonardo do Brasil on an area of 79.000 square meters, will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020. Until then, Leonardo will guarantee the continuity of customer assistance services in the area through the center currently based in São Paulo.
The new Support Center will include maintenance hangars, warehouses and processing areas together with additional support services and a dedicated heliport, with the possibility of further expansion in the future. The services provided include spare parts, maintenance, product support, engineering services for the AW119, AW109, AW139, AW169 and AW189 helicopter models.
With over 190 helicopters currently in service in Brazil and used for various operational tasks such as private and corporate transport, security, public utilities, offshore transport and naval roles, together with a constant growth of the South American fleet in recent years also through the introduction of new models, the construction of the new Support Center aims to satisfy the evolution of the region's requirements. South America shows significant medium and long-term opportunities for various uses including rescue, security and civil protection.
The construction of the new Support Center represents further proof of Leonardo's commitment to customers in the area and is in line with the Industrial Plan which envisages the enhancement of services and greater geographical proximity to operators. Increasingly modern services will help maximize operational efficiency and safety for the benefit of end users, crews and the national community that benefits from helicopter missions. The progress in the field of customer assistance was also recognized by the special annual survey of the American specialized magazine Professional Pilot, which saw Leonardo position himself for the second time in a row in first place compared to the competition and in all the categories of the relative evaluation: response times, technical manuals, speed of assistance in case of downtime, technical staff, customer satisfaction, availability and cost of spare parts.