United Kingdom
AgustaWestland is a former British aircraft manufacturer currently under the wing of Leonardo S.p.A, and formerly Finmeccanica. AgustaWestland helicopters are a common sight in the world of aviation, particularly their mid-size, large and military helicopters.
Read moreThis company was founded in 2000, but it became defunct in 2015 when it merged with Leonardo. Even though it is now considered defunct, AgustaWestland is now the helicopters division that makes up the Leonardo Helicopters brand.
There was a collaboration between Agusta and Westland that began in 1981, when these two companies worked together to establish the European Helicopter Industries. They did this with the purpose of creating a new utility helicopter together.
It was in early 1999 that an announced merger between GKN and Finmeccanica put Agusta and Westland on the map. In 2002, AgustaWestland cut almost 1,000 jobs in the UK and closed the Weston-super-Mare factory. Just two years later, GKN sold their share of the company to Finmeccanica.
From 2005 on, it seemed like AgustaWestland was doing better, as they won a contract to build Marine One, but this program was cancelled. After acquiring more companies and interests, AgustaWestland was finally merged with Leonardo, formerly known as Finmeccanica, just a decade later.
There was one large scandal that rocked the AgustaWestland world, which occurred in 2013. India had signed a contract to purchase 12 AW101 helicopters in 2010, and the contract came to light in 2013 when the CEO of Finmeccanica, Giuseppe Orsi, was arrested.
The deal was cancelled in 2014 to the tune of US$630 million. India was able to recover the money that they had already paid to the company as a down payment. The decision to cancel the deal after allegations that the contract was part of a bribe.
It was after this problem, as well as other issues in the company, that AgustaWestland closed and was merged with Leonard to eventually become their helicopter division.
There have been several crashes involving AgustaWestland helicopters, with the most recent occurring on July 4, 2019. This crash occurred in the Atlantic Ocean near the Grand Cay Islands of the Bahamas. There were seven occupants, all of them were killed in the crash. One person on the helicopter was coal billionaire Chris Cline.
Another recent crash was in October 2018, when an AW169 helicopter crashed shortly after it had taken off at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, England, UK. There were five people on board, and all of them were killed in the crash. The cause of the crash was loss of yaw control due to failure of the tail rotor control linkage.
This company is currently headquartered in Rome, Italy.
AgustaWestland is in charge of the R&D of all helicopters for Leonardo, but that is not all that their parent company manufactures. Leonardo is known for the creation of high-quality military products that are used all over the world.
They work on creating naval power and electronics, electro-optic and infrared systems, network and computing, defense protection systems, combat support, and global communications.
They also design, develop, and produce high performance satellite systems that can be used in both the defense and civilian sectors. These are used for monitoring the environment, telecommunications, monitoring the climate of the Earth, and even in the field of space infrastructure.
Leonardo also has a division that develops and produces missiles, as well as missile systems, that can be used for air dominance, maritime superiority, battlefield engagement, and ground-based air defense.
When the company merged with Leonardo, they had an impressive 12,500 employees. Of course, Leonardo is a much bigger company. They currently have more than 46,000 employees that are spread throughout the world.
They have a huge international presence, but have the majority of their employees located in Italy, the US, the UK, and Poland.
Giovanni De Gennaro is the current chairman of Leonardo. He, along with Alessandro Profumo, the CEO, work with a team of talented individuals to run the company.
Other notable team members include Fabio Barsotti, the Manufacturing and Program Management Optimization Director, and Norman Bone, the Managing Director of the Electronics Division.
While AgustaWestland is no longer functioning, the CEO was Daniele Romiti.
At the end of 2012, the company had a revenue of €4,243 million and operating income of €473 million.