Turbine: 1 Leonardo, 2 Bell, 3 Airbus, 4 Sikorsky. Piston: 1 Robinson
Leonardo wins in turbine division for 6th consecutive year. Robinson is #1 in piston for 21st straight year. Results are based on a 15.1% return with 469 line evaluations.
Pro Pilot staff Report
Compiled by Conklin & de Decker
Turbine
Leonardo is the #1 winner in the turbine helicopter division of the Pro Pilot Helicopter Product Support Survey for the 6th consecutive year. The OEM earned an overall score of 8.31 this year, down from 8.53 obtained in 2023. It placed 1st in all categories except for spares availability, where it ranked 2nd.
Product Support Engineering (PSE) and Customer Support and Services (CSS) work together in order to provide engineering services to commercial and military operators. Support and training assistance for the in-service fleets are available 24/7 through Leonardo’s worldwide network. The manufacturer also provides helicopter maintenance and upgrades.
Bell places 2nd for the 6th year in a row, obtaining an overall score of 7.47 this year, compared to 7.99 in 2023. Bell achieved 1st spot in the spares availability category, and 2nd in all other categories of the survey.
Bell’s customer service and product support teams are ready to serve operators 24/7 through the company’s worldwide network, which includes its own facilities and authorized service centers. Their goal is to deliver everything from technical information to product sales and aircraft maintenance. In addition to its worldwide service facilities, Bell employs professional customer service engineers to give local technical support, and product support engineering teams to provide advanced technical assistance from the company office.
Airbus remains 3rd for the 2nd consecutive year. It earned an overall score of 6.87 this year, compared to 7.55 received in 2023. It ranked 3rd in all categories of the survey except for tech reps.
Airbus HCare delivers the support and services necessary for operators to meet their missions efficiently, safely, and cost-effectively. HCare is available 24/7 worldwide, and provides technical assistance and expertise, including AOG event response, technical data, including flight, airworthiness, maintenance, procurement, and identification manuals, continuing airworthiness management (CAM) services, and FlyScan services. Technical requests can be tackled online through the AirbusWorld customer portal.
Sikorsky rounds out the survey, taking 4th place this year, with an overall score of 6.18 in 2024. It placed 3rd in the tech reps category.
Sikorsky’s Customer Care Center, based in Trumbull CT, is manned 24 hours a day by a team of experts working in urgent customer needs. It’s available 24/7 for both domestic and international customers.
The Customer Care Center is designed to improve aircraft availability and customer satisfaction, and provides help through its AOG Resolution Center and Fleet Management Center. Its worldwide support network has S-76 and S-92 operators assigned to an account service manager. Sikorsky currently has 22 customer support centers worldwide. Its customer support team includes FSRs, technical product support teams, and field repair teams that provide product and engineering assistance.
Piston
Robinson has been the winner in the piston helicopter division for 21 years in a row. It received an overall score of 7.87 in 2024, compared to 8.30 earned last year. Best category improvement was in tech reps, with 8.73, compared to 8.69 obtained in 2023.
Robinson technical support and customer service are ready to solve any operator’s inquiries and issues. Its worldwide network of more than 400 service centers and dealers provide service and support for 13,000 Robinson helicopters delivered worldwide. Robinson makes constant improvements and introduces new technology.
The company also offers monthly safety courses for helicopter flight instructors and maintenance courses for technicians. All manufacturing, assembly, inspections, and flight tests are conducted at Robinson’s Torrance CA factory. In order to ensure high quality and efficiency, a large percentage of parts are manufactured in-house by a skilled workforce.
For a full view of the 2024 Helicopter Manufacturers Product Support Survey… click here