Airbus begins a new chapter

摘要

Another blue sky day in Marseille. No clouds mar the horizon, but a stiff breeze whips across the airfield, snapping out the bright orange safety tags attached to the helicopter's rotor-blades. The yellow-liveried aircraft - and its sister ship parked inside the nearby hangar - is an EC175: "the first brand-new product in more than a decade" for manufacturer Airbus Helicopters. Accordingly, the handover event at its Marignane site on 11 December - nearly five years to the day since first flight and two years later than planned - marked a hugely important step for the airframer. Inside the hangar it was all smiles and handshakes. Assembly line workers and programme chiefs past and present mingled with representatives from launch customer Noordzee Helikopters Vlaanderen (NHV), including its pilots, technicians and even financiers.