Honeywell’s 19th annual “Turbine-Powered Civil Helicopter Purchase Outlook” revealed a decline in the purchase-plan rates since the 2016 survey.
Over the next five years, Honeywell projects 3,900 to 4,400 civilian-use helicopter deliveries across the globe. This is about 400 less helicopters than forecasted in 2016’s five-year outlook.
Both market volatility in oil and gas-related industries and global economic growth impact the helicopter industry. The 2017 survey showed that this decline in helicopter demand was consistent across all regions. However, the survey showed an increased demand in medium twin-engine and light single-engines.
In contrast to 2016, however, the survey showed an increased demand in medium twin-engine and light single-engines, as well as an increase in the use of helicopter fleets over the past 12 months. These usage rates are expected to increase greatly over the next year in Latin America and North America, and decrease in Europe.
Law enforcement and corporate segments exhibited the highest purchase plan rates.
The survey obtained input from individual flight departments, emergency medical service fleets, and large oil and gas support operators.
Over 1,000 flight department managers and chief pilots were surveyed from companies operating 3,746 turbines and 362 piston helicopters worldwide.
Regional Findings
While the North American region has over 40 percent of the current world fleet, the region purchase plans have dropped over two percent this year.
Elsewhere, the European region is down for the second consecutive year, as purchase plans have decreased over three percent in this year’s survey.
Latin America remains above the world average, despite purchase plans in the area have declined over 13 percent since 2016. Purchase plans in Africa and the Middle East are eight percent lower than in 2016.
Across the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) purchase plans have fallen on an average of 11 percent. Brazil stands out with the highest drop in the group, of 20 percent.
With the smallest drop, the Asia Pacific region dropped around one percent, with solid survey results.
For more information, visit the Honeywell website.