Singapore Airshow 2018: Leonardo to deepen Asia-Pacific footprint
12th February 2018 - 08:02 GMT | by
Gordon Arthur in Singapore
RSS
Leonardo is planning a significant network expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, with the company expecting to increase the number of regional offices it has by 50% before 2022.
This degree of investment, including new representative offices in Bangkok, Jakarta, Islamabad and Dhaka by the end of 2019, reveals the importance of the region to the company. Other offices to be established in Asia-Pacific include Astana, Baku, Canberra, Perth and Shanghai.
Existing offices in places like Australia, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore will expand with a wider range of products as Leonardo brings various subsidiaries under a single brand name.
Speaking to
Shephard at Singapore Airshow 2018, Marco Buratti, Leonardo’s senior vice president for international marketing and strategic campaigns, explained: ‘To serve our customers better, we are organising specific service stations for the fleets in operation. We have one in Malaysia, one in Japan, and we intend to use these not only for deliveries but also for other Leonardo products.
'This is part of our plan to make our presence in the region stronger than in the past.’
He continued: ‘We see a number of opportunities in the region, representing in the next five years around 8-10% more in order intakes.'
This equates to about €8-10 billion ($10-12 billion) and will come from such products as maritime surveillance systems, helicopters and radars.
Leonardo released its
2018-22 Industrial Plan in late January which saw share prices tumble after criticism of its content. The aim of the plan is to achieve cumulative sales of €70 billion ($86 billion) by 2022, of which 20% will come from Asia-Pacific.
Buratti noted there were ‘concrete opportunities’ for maritime patrol aircraft, with Malaysia and
New Zealand potential customers for its
ATR 72MP.
Indeed, the ATR-72MP is among the platforms shortlisted by the Royal Malaysian Air Force for a long-running
requirement for four maritime patrol aircraft. Leonardo believes the aircraft, which enjoys many commonalities with ATR 72s in commercial aviation, would offer significant savings.
Buratti said around 450 Leonardo helicopters are either flying or on order in Asia-Pacific today. However, there was a 31% drop in global civil sales for Leonardo from 2012-16.
Nevertheless, with products such as the
AW139,
AW159 (with sales achieved in the
Philippines and
South Korea),
AW169 and
AW189, Leonardo is feeling confident.
Campaigns are currently running in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand for the military
AW101. A new helicopter MRO facility, for instance, will begin operations in Japan next year.
The
Falco UAV has been sold in Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Africa and the Middle East, but the company would like to gain customers elsewhere in Asia as well.
https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/defence-notes/singapore-airshow-2018-leonardo-deepen-asia-pacifi/