Last year, Bell Helicopter president and CEO Richard Millman surprised the helicopter world with the announcement that the company planned to shut down production of the 206B3, 210, 427 and 430 by 2010. The move allows Bell to focus on more profitable and popular models like the 206L4, 407, 412 and soon-to-be-certified 429. At the same time, it can apply resources to its growing backlog, which is now at $6.2 billion. Bell expects to deliver 180 helicopters this year, up slightly from last year’s 167. Despite the dire state of the world economy, Millman still sees plenty of opportunity for Bell to soar, thanks especially to the 55/45-percent split between its military and commercial helicopter markets.

Was it the right decision to phase out the 206B3, 210, 427 and 430?
Those aircraft were and are excellent, but the order rates had diminished to the point where you still need a lot of space for the flow line and contracts with
suppliers to make the parts specific to those models. We could be much more efficient, because some of our other products are in such demand, and use the physical space to produce more of the 407s, the 429s, the 412s and also reduce the number of transactions and the number of parts that our supply base has to make. If we can only make 100 of something and we stop those productions lines, we now can make 120. If the demand is there, it makes everything more efficient.

Last year, Bell discussed possible upgrade programs for the 206L, 407, 429 and 412EP. What is the status of these upgrade programs?
The 429 was announced as the first version of a family, but our major focus is on finishing up the certification activities. There are two different variations being looked at. One’s a little further along than the other. But you’ve got to finish one before you deploy the troops against the second. We always have several ideas in the preliminary conceptual design phase to see how they match up with our customers. We have customer advisory boards and [we] put ideas in front of them, understand their future needs and their view of their future needs, and then make our decisions.