Leonardo unveiled the new "Agusta" branding of its AW line of VIP and corporate helicopters over the weekend in Dubai. This announcement followed the arrival of the company’s AW609 AC4 civil tiltrotor there, on display at Falcon Aviation Services at “Casa Agusta,” an upscale urban heliport terminal concept that can be replicated in multiple markets, is modular, and easily transportable.
The company said the Casa Agusta concept “will support the development of a network of point-to-point connections for both urban transfers and connections between cities, while meeting the growing demands for sustainable and modern vertical lift mobility, as well as greater access to urban areas while providing VIP and charter passengers “levels of service typically available in larger private airport facilities far from downtown and urban areas.”
“With Agusta we give our VIP operators a strong brand that they can easily recognize and identify with, a sign that embodies their desire for excellence and quality with a personal touch and distinction, which includes their flight experience. We want them to be themselves before takeoff, during flight, and upon arrival at their destination, setting them apart from others. The strength and recognition of the Agusta brand legacy still continues to live on in this particular market segment,” said Leonardo Helicopters managing director Gian Piero Cutillo.
Launch of the Agusta brand follows a similar move by Airbus when it launched Airbus Corporate Helicopters (ACH) in 2017, and draws on the heritage of the Agusta name from an aviation company formed in Italy in 1923 by Giovanni Agusta. That company began producing helicopters under license from other OEMs, most notably Bell, in 1952, and began developing its own indigenous civil helicopter, the Agusta A109 light twin, in the late 1960s. It then merged with Britain’s Westland Helicopters in 2000 to form AgustaWestland, later rebranded Leonardo Helicopters in 2017, a nod to 15th and 16th Century Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci, widely credited with devising the first concept for the helicopter.