View From Houston
A common
theme in all of
my interviews at
Heli-Expo: the
avionics industry
will more than
hold its own in
2010
Arriving on Earth, after overhearing some NASA astronauts, General Zod, the extraterrestrial villain in Superman II, says: “So this is planet Houston.”
Since 2001, this convention and exposition,
sponsored by Helicopter Association Interna-
tional (HAI), has hosted an average of more
than 13,000 aviation professionals. This year,
attendance hovered (pun intended) at about
16,000. Although primarily a helicopter show,
this event is heavily represented by avionics
companies.
The editorial staff of Aviation Today filed
intraday dispatches from the show floor and
posted them on our Web site blog. You can
access our reportage of Heli-Expo at
www.aviationtoday.com/blog.html
At Heli-Expo, I visited and reported on a
host of avionics companies, including Universal
Avionics, Sagem Avionics, Garmin and Cob-
ham Avionics, to name a few. A common theme
in all of my interviews: the avionics industry
will more than hold its own in 2010.
The most illuminating context for the prospects of the avionics industry was expressed by
Clayton Jones, chairman, president and CEO of
Rockwell Collins, during the first quarter earnings call. His perspective was later reinforced at
Heli-Expo.
“Our avionics dealer network has noted an
increase in the number of calls for quotes in
information on avionics and cabin upgrades,”
Jones said during the earnings call. “While these
calls have not yet translated into sales, they are
indicative of operators getting information to
set their budgets in place and present potential
future retrofit opportunity.”
Jones noted that Rockwell Collins expects to
see greater overall flight hours of out-of-war-
ranty aircraft and an associated increase in its
maintenance and repair business in the second
half of the year.
“Finally, about 65 percent of the organic
revenues for the rest of the year are under con-
tract in backlog,” he said. “A significant portion
of these relate to our strength in open systems
architecture and consists of programs such
as the KC-135 Block 45, international C-130
upgrades, avionics for high-demand CH-47s
and electronic upgrades for other surveillance
aircraft.”
According to Jones, economic indicators
suggest that across the board, for the air trans-
port market as well as business, retrofits and
MRO work, Rockwell Collins is “just not seeing
a lot of increase in activity, but we are seeing
stabilization of activity, meaning it’s on a fairly
constant level.”
This growth will especially manifest itself in
the military sector, for such aircraft as the Lock-
heed Martin C-130, the primary tactical aircraft
for transporting troops and equipment for the
U.S. Air Force and allied nations.
John Persinos is publisher and editorial director
of Aviation Today. He can be reached at
jpersinos@accessintel.com or 301-385-7211.
