While Bell capped off 2022 with the U.S. Army Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program win valued at up to $80 billion, president and CEO Mitch Snyder stressed that its commercial business remains firmly cemented in the company’s future.
Noting he has received many questions on whether it will turn its focus on the military side, Snyder stressed to reporters during a recent media day in Fort Worth, Texas, that Bell (Booth B5504) has invested at least at much in the commercial business, if not more. “We found the right balance, in my mind,” he said.
He pointed to the “clean sheet” 525 Relentless super medium design, bringing to market the 505 light single, and upgrades to the 407, among other efforts. Once the 525 gains certification, Snyder added, Bell will need to continue to develop kits and upgrades for that model.
Looking forward, “you’ll start to see refresh coming on that side of the business,” Snyder said, citing a push to continually elevate safety. “I’ve always wanted our innovation team to look for innovative products that make our aircraft safer.”
Michael Thacker, executive v-p for Bell’s commercial business, added that the company will consider upgrades for both aftermarket and forward fit customers and cited as examples bird-strike-resistant windshields and improved pilot situational awareness for wire strike protection.
Along with upgrades, Bell’s support projects include the development of an Executive Advantage maintenance and support plan option for customers that operate less than 200 hours a year. These operators, he said, have different needs than heavy users. “When you look at those needs, we have tried to make sure we have support plans and packages that fit and help level load their costs as they go forward as well, so they can plan for what that’s going to look like in their future,” he said.
Thacker called 2022 “a fantastic sales year,” when Bell sold more than 200 commercial aircraft. “We continue to see a bounce back in the commercial market,” he noted. “Our customer interest continues despite the ongoing global challenges in numerous areas.” Bell has seen significant growth coming from corporate, military, and public safety segments, and plans to take a more comprehensive approach to its special missions business.
“The corporate market continues to be healthy, and we saw positive sales activity across all regions and all segments, particularly adding customers that were new to aviation, as well as converting from competitive folks to have them join the Bell family for the first time,” Thacker added.
He also cited several military training contracts for the 505 in Asia and growth from a variety of customers in Europe. Bell delivered the 400th 505 last year to a UK customer and Thacker said 80 now operate in the region. He further noted Latin America led the globe for 412 sales with 50 confirmed in the region.
He also appeared upbeat about China. “For many years, we’ve seen China as an incredibly underserved market,” Thacker noted. “As China reopens, Bell is engaged with our partners and customers as they work to tackle infrastructure development, training, and access to lower airspace.”
The company continues to see market recovery in steps since the pandemic. “We expect for the growth to continue in 2023 as well,” said Thacker.
Commercial deliveries increased from 156 aircraft in 2021 to 179 last year, despite supply chain disruptions. “That really was a lot of hard work for a lot of people right up to the end of the year to make it happen,” he explained.
Supply chain kinks remain an ongoing concern, so much so that Bell created a position on the senior leadership team, naming Eli Javanmardi executive v-p of global supply chain to steer those efforts. It remains a focus in meetings as well. Snyder maintained that Bell is taking a “very thoughtful, very deliberate” approach, tapping into strong tier-one suppliers on key programs and reconfiguring the chain to ensure the needed support. “Some of that is trying to branch in new spaces if we have to,” noted Snyder. “But one thing that we have done is we’re very deliberate about being vertically integrated in certain places.”
Bell learned, as many other companies have done across multiple industries, that it might have outsourced too much and could no longer control its destiny. “We’ve decided to make sure that we were vertically integrated in a lot of areas so we can control that, so we can really go from raw material to product as opposed to going through multiple supply or multiple processing to get there,” he concluded.