63% Increase Over Last Year!

Sales at Robinson Helicopter Company, once again, exceeded expectations. In 2004, Robinson produced 690 new helicopters, a 63% increase over the 422 helicopters produced in 2003. RHC shipped 234 R22s and 456 R44s, an all time high for the company, and has manufactured over 3,780 R22s and 2,100 R44s to date. Moving forward in 2005, strong demand for both R22 and R44 helicopters has led to a large backlog of orders.

In response, Robinson plans to increase production from 15 to 20 new helicopters per week. An additional 215,000 square foot new manufacturing building will help facilitate the increased production rate.

The worldwide increase in R22s and R44s also led to a record 1,011 pilots attending the Robinson three day safety course in 2004. The growing interest in the safety course prompted Robinson to create a new, larger training facility within the new building. Class size was expanded to 65 pilots and the class schedule increased from once to twice per month. RHC now has the ability to accommodate the 1,300 students expected to attend the safety course in 2005.

With all of the recent growth, Robinson has the capability to increase production beyond numbers that were achieved in 2004. Frank Robinson, President of RHC says that he expects “2005 to be as good as, or better than 2004.”

FMI: www.robinsonheli.com