The center, which the company claims is the first in the country to be opened by a western rotorcraft maker, is located at Ostafievo Airport near Moscow. It is being run in partnership with Gazpromavia, the flight department of Russian energy group Gazprom, which is a Eurocopter operator.

In April, the French-German manufacturer established a new wholly owned Russian subsidiary called Eurocopter Vostok. This company is set to open two more helicopter service centers–in St. Petersburg and in the Tumen region in western Siberia by year-end, and it intends to open three more support facilities in Russia next year. These too will be run with local partners.