The pandemic has caused a build-up of completed but undelivered aircraft at Leonardo’s production sites. The helicopter division was one of the business’ most affected by the virus during the first quarter – civil deliveries went down from 19 deliveries in the same period last year to 11 this year.

Revenues at the division slumped year on year by 13.4 per cent. Nonetheless, Leonardo Helicopters added €1.48 billion to its backlog during the quarter, largely driven by the defence sector.

While civil orders have been maintained at pre-Covid-19 levels, clients have been unable to travel to Italy to collect the helicopters. Now, Leonardo is considering new solutions to clear the jam of undelivered aircraft, which are mostly AW139 intermediate twins, according to Alessandra Genco, Group Chief Financial Officer.

“In helicopters we are getting ready to do ‘smart deliveries’ – using the digital set-up to transfer to customers all the data relating to the final testing we have done on their machines,” she said.

“This will make them comfortable that the machine is in good shape, as if their own pilots had tested it, and therefore on that basis take delivery of the aircraft.”

However, although progress is being made on the initiative, she cautions not to expect any ‘significant speed up’ of deliveries until June.