New Helicopter Training Academy to strengthen Leonardo’s position in the US

The new Academy was first announced at the 2019 Heli-Expo in Atlanta and, despite the challenges of Covid-19, was able to open two years later, on schedule.

The new Academy in Philadelphia is part of a US$80-million investment in US operations that will provide training services for a growing demand and need for pilots, cabin crews and maintenance technicians across North and South America. The training academy in the US will mirror the services provided by its sister facility in Sesto-Calende (Italy) offering ground, air and virtual training.

The Academy, which is already up and running for customers, features training services for the AW119, AW169 and AW139 models and will also be home to the training services for global customers of the world’s first tiltrotor set to receive civil certification, the AW609.

Ensuring outstanding service and training

Alessandro Profumo, CEO at Leonardo, said: “We want to be regarded as a partner, not just a supplier, by continuing to ensure an outstanding service and training experience. And we integrate these capabilities into our unique helicopter offer with the ambition of becoming the world leader in the sector. Advanced simulation, augmented reality, artificial intelligence – all embedded today in our US Academy – are examples of this vision.”

Gian Piero Cutillo, MD at Leonardo Helicopters, added: “Our new US Training Academy will help to serve the largest market for helicopters in the global industry, and will be part of a continued process to guarantee customer proximity and expand our range of offer. We are committed to devoting every possible effort to continue to build a training culture as part of our value proposition, a true benefit of all our stakeholders, customers, and end-users.”

The first Leonardo Helicopter Training Academy opened in Sesto-Calende (Italy) in 2006 and in its inaugural year provided training to 600 students; by the 2018-2020 period, that number grew to an average of 10,000 annually across the growing global training network, including at authorized training centres in the UK, Poland and Malaysia.