HSI To Offer Support For EADS Copters

Officials with Helicopter Support Inc., a subsidiary of Sikorsky Aircraft, and American Eurocopter reportedly jumped the gun a little bit Sunday at HAI Heli-Expo 2006, announcing an agreement between the two companies for HSI to become an American Eurocopter service center one day early.

"We are proud of this new service center agreement as it rounds out HSI’s support portfolio to include Eurocopter models and provides enhanced support to our customers. We are delighted to support Eurocopter products at HSI, and look forward to a long and successful relationship with them," said David Adler, president of HSI and Sikorsky’s senior vice president of worldwide customer support.

The service center agreement enables HSI to support US based Eurocopter helicopter operators’ spares and repairs requirements, as well as satisfy Northeast regional maintenance requirements at the HSI hangar at Tweed New Haven Airport in New Haven, CT.

Sikorsky is currently teamed with American Eurocopter -- and its parent company EADS North America -- in offering the UH-145 for the US Army’s Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) requirement. Under the teaming agreement Sikorsky will play a primary role in providing contractor logistics support (CLS) for the UH-145.

Of course, Sikorsky also competes with Eurocopter in the helicopter marketplace. But that hasn't fazed the company before -- HSI currently supports Bell, Robinson, and Schweizer (also a Sikorsky subsidiary) as well as Sikorsky copters.

FMI: www.sikorsky.com, www.eurocopter.com, www.hsius.com