By Ron Wilbur

LAS VEGAS, Nevada - The Agusta press breakfast at HAI's Heli-Expo was an opportunity for the Italian helicopter manufacturer to talk about progress. In an environment where some are winning and some are losing, Agusta management produced evidence that they're in the first category.

While 1999 financials aren't yet released the company projects the final numbers to show a 15% increase in sales over the previous year. Agusta also continued progress in its efforts to reduce employment, with a decrease from 5,174 in 1998 to 5,059 at the end of 1999. As management reports go, both key indicators were solidly trending in the right directions.

Agusta management describes the company as organized like a network. Five of the six Italian plants provide subsets of helicopters which are then integrated into final assemblies by the Vergiate facility. Similarly, subcontractors feed parts into the Vergiate plant. The Finmeccanica company believes that this system provides efficiencies because each facility can maintain a specialty of excellence.

So far it's working. Not just the sales numbers but the backlog is also strong. At the end of the year, Agusta had a solid $2.5 billion in its order backlog of which 50% were export orders. Export shipments for the year just ending represented 58% of the total. The implications are obvious. Agusta needs more export orders to maintain their stability in the worldwide market and to reduce their reliance on the domestic Italian market.

The good news is the Agusta product line holds promise to attract worldwide interest and orders. The Bell/Agusta Aerospace 609 civil variant of the Bell Boeing tiltrotor is progressing toward first flight this year with deliveries expected in 2002. The firm order backlog for the unique BA609 aircraft stands at 80 as of the show. Another Bell/Agusta product, the AB139 medium twin announced last year at Paris, is also tracking on schedule for 2002 deliveries.

Agusta's 2.5 ton, single-engine A119 Koala is reportedly getting a lot of interest in the international market. The innovative helicopter is said to offer the performance, space and comfort of a twin-engine from a single-engine aircraft, which should translate into operational economies as well. Agusta says the program is progressing rapidly toward imminent first deliveries to customers in Venezuela and Australia.

Also reported at the show was the successful firing of Hellfire missiles on the A129 Mangusta International. That helicopter is shortlisted for the Australian Army reconnaissance armed helicopter AIR 87 program and is competing for the Polish and Turkish attack helicopter programs.

Noticeably absent in Agusta press materials was much if any reference to the nine-ton NH90 program being jointly developed with Eurocopter and Fokker.