Story ID: 330
Bell Shows Off MAGnificent 429 at EBACE
By: Amy Laboda
Caption: With a unique sound-deadening and tech-rich interior, the Bell 429 oozes comfort while its smaller sister Bell 505 is all about utility.
Word Count: 489
Bell (Booth SD405) brought its Bell 429 outfitted with Italy-based Mecaer Aviation Group’s MAGnificent interior and Helialps’ Bell 505 Jetranger X this week to EBACE 2019. To date, the company has delivered 330 Bell 429s and 150 Bell 505s.

The helicopter manufacturer also signed a purchase agreement with Austrian Hubi-Fly for a Bell 505 at EBACE and recently announced the certification of the light single helicopter in both the Ukraine and Russia. Those certifications have sparked seven recent sales to corporate customers in Germany, Greece, Ukraine, and Russia, Bell said.

“Our Bell 429 interior is the most exclusive and unique VIP interior in our portfolio,” said Patrick Moulay, senior vice president of International Business for Bell. “The sound level is unique because of the cocoon we’ve developed; you can have a normal conversation without headsets.”

The smaller Bell 505 is also available with the VIP MAGnificent interior, which includes multiple storage consoles, a variety of seating configurations, the company’s SILENS sound-deadening system, IFEEL in-flight entertainment system, and electrochromic windows, along with digital functionality such as Wi-Fi and passenger controlled moving map audio-visuals customized to clients’ needs.

Last year, Bell expanded its global footprint approving Helideal, located in southern France, as a certified training facility in Europe. Helideal is also a Bell Independent representative and uses all of the Bell Training Academy pilot certification materials for Bell 505 helicopter training.

Next up in Bell’s stable is the Bell 525, which Moulay says is in test flight certification and coming along nicely. “We are targeting certification in the next 12 months, ideally by year’s end but you know, it is certification and could take more time. We have five aircraft flying and all the flight-testing has been going well, exceeding the technical specifications we had for the program,” he said. Bell is fine-tuning the fly-by-wire helicopter for two initial markets: oil and gas and search and rescue.

Finally, Moulay pointed out that Bell was at the CES 2019 electronics show in Las Vegas with its Nexus VTOL concept design. Exhibiting at a tech show is a bit of a departure for a long-standing aerospace company such as Bell, but given that so much of the VTOL technology is coming out of that sector, it made sense, according to Moulay.

“We see the industry transforming and our CEO, Mitch Snyder, is pushing us to reimagine the future of Bell,” he said. “You might have noticed that we no longer have 'helicopter' in our name and that is indicative of the type of change I’m talking about. It reflects the fact that we want to be a new company. Nexus is a concept that we think will be a prototype flying in a few years. But there are a lot of other projects we are not yet communicating about—and you’ll find out more about those projects in the years to come.”