A multi-engine, instrument rated pilot, James Wynbrandt has been an AIN and Business Jet Traveler contributor since 2003. His in-depth reporting and insightful features have won more than a dozen editorial honors, including two National Business Aviation Association Gold Wing Awards (2019; 2021), and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Barron’s, Fortune, Forbes, and Smithsonian Air &amp; Space. He has flown his Mooney M20K 252 on assignments throughout North and Central America and the Caribbean. Wynbrandt is also the author of Flying High (Wiley &amp; Sons), a biography of Jet Blue founder David Neeleman, as well as histories, references works, and books on a variety of other topics from major publishers. He lives in New York City.

Contributor - Business Aviation

James Wynbrandt

AgustaWestland (AW) unveiled its new vision and strategy for continued growth at its annual Heli-Expo press breakfast. Under a new “ThinkCustomer” banner, the company will streamline and simplify its operating model, diversify and grow its product offerings and increase its focus on customer satisfaction to respond to “a new market environment,” company CEO Daniele Romiti said. He reported the company had a 13.6-percent increase in revenues for the first nine months of 2013 (€3.012 billion) over the similar period in 2012 (€2.976 billion).


Romiti noted that AW’s market share has grown from 12 percent in 2004 to 28 percent in 2013. “We’re not number one [in terms of deliveries],” he said. “I think the exact number is unimportant. What is important is our growth rate has been 21 percent, [much more than] the Chinese growth rate in terms of GDP.” However, changes in the marketplace marked by increasing competition and greater customer expectations require adjusting the company’s strategy, he said.


Under its new lean and mean model, AW will also exploit “a wide range of partnering opportunities, from licensed production and co-development, to support and training,” Romiti said. “That leads to increasing market penetration and leverage in business opportunities.”


Roberto Garavaglia, senior v-p for strategy and business development, said the company would focus on three product categories going forward: its traditional helicopters for vertical lift efficiency; tiltrotors for greater speed, range and altitude; and UAVs, to meet the needs of a growing and diversified market.


Pursuing its goal of increasing customer satisfaction, John Ponsonby, senior v-p for customer training and support, introduced AW Step Change, a company initiative “launched to reinforce the level of engagement of all employees toward customer satisfaction,” as well as a new customer training and support division.

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