Corporate Version of Bell's 430 Helicopter

Bell Helicopter's flagship 430 goes head-to-head with business jets, which in some ways just can't beat it.

"We're sold out until well into next year," Bell Helicopter Textron chairman and CEO Terry Stinson says about the Model 430.

Bell's seven-passenger flagship 430, he states, is "the pre-eminent executive transportation helicopter in the world today." It has a new interior and an exterior paint job specially designed to wow the corporate crowd -- yet the aircraft costs "a million dollars less," Stinson claims, than "anything nearly close to its class" at $4 million to $4.4 million. The Bell 430 fleet has logged 54,400 flight hours,with 80 aircraft in service.

The deluxe executive interior of the 430 is by Tennessee's Edwards & Associates, a Bell-owned finishing house. It also features a deluxe avionics package.

The Bell 430 may be had via fractional ownership, from Dallas-based HeliFlite Shares. Bell is also promoting VIP versions of the AB139, a powerful new twin that made its first flights earlier this year in Italy.

The new helicopter is being developed by the Bell/Agusta Aerospace partnership with risk-sharing partners including PZL-Swidnik of Poland, Germany's Liebherr, Kawasaki of Japan, Honeywell for Primus Epic avionics, and Pratt & Whitney Canada for the AB139's PT6C-67C engines.

Bell/Agusta is talking up the AB139's five-bladed main and a four-bladed tail rotors that yield a smooth, quiet ride, and rough ground taxi capability via a heavy-duty, retractable nose-wheel tricycle landing gear.

AB139 icing protection will be available as an option on the aircraft.

Certification of the AB139 is expected next year. The partners claim orders from customers in Australia, Europe, Africa, Middle and Far East and the Americas. The new twin can accommodate as many 15 passengers.

Like the AB139 helicopter, the BA609 is being built in partnership with the Italians. Bell reports 80 advance orders from 42 different customers in 18 countries. Identical BA609s will be assembled at Bell Helicopter Textron facilities in Texas and at a new assembly line to be set up at Agusta in Italy. Fuji Heavy Industries has responsibility for all BA609 production fuselages.

Bell is talking up its new 360º program here too: a one-stop shopping purchase package including helicopter and helicopter financing, insurance and maintenance; and its new BellNet eXchange Internet website for used helicopter sales.

-Rich Piellisch