Engine makers peer into Crystal Ball
Rolls-Royce and Honeywell both aired their market forecasts for the helicopter industry at last month’s Heli-Expo show in Las Vegas.

Rolls-Royce and Honeywell both aired their market forecasts for the helicopter industry at last month’s Heli-Expo show in Las Vegas. Rolls-Royce’s 10-year outlook (2004 to 2014) calls for deliveries of 5,165 turbine civil rotorcraft with airframe values totaling $13.9 billion and engines totaling $1.9 billion. Of those airframes, 57 percent are expected to be single-engine and 22 percent will be light twins. The intermediate class should tally some 17 percent, according to Rolls-Royce. Honeywell restricts its outlook to the next five years (2004 to 2008), anticipating a modest growth of 6.8 percent compared with sales during the previous half decade. Corporate, EMS and law-enforcement helicopters are expected to lead the charge, with some 67 percent of sales. In total, the survey predicts deliveries of 2,350 new civil turbine rotorcraft during the next five years, citing increased demand in the light-single and intermediate-twin markets. (See Heli-Expo report on page 82.)