Greetings Mr. Charette, congratulations for your new position 

Indeed, I’m very pleased with it and particularly for having the chance to work with such a fantastic team. As you know, these last few years, we’ve focused heavily on improving client support and the current team reflects this priority. My background has always been focused on supporting client operations. So you can guess what our priorities will be for the next few years.

Could you tell us more about your vision for the future at Airbus Helicopters Canada?

After 35 years of activity in Canada, we’ve kept expanding and improving our product line and, of course, it’s always exciting to add a new product or to improve existing ones. For example, during the 2020 Heli Expo, we announced the increase of the H125 payload (140 kg) and the H135 maximum weight (120 kg), in addition to the arrival of the H160, scheduled for later this year.

The Canadian market is an important part of Airbus sales and we’re very happy to see more and more clients putting their trust in us. Over the past 10 years, we’ve shown solid leadership in the commercial field, with 65% of deliveries. In addition, I’m pleased to say the private and corporate pilot market has grown nicely over the past 5 years. As you know, there’s a significant number of private and corporate pilots in Quebec.  

Getting back to your question, we’ll carry on the work started by the team during the past few years to improve customer experience. To do so, we intend on focusing on 4 aspects:

• Our preventive maintenance programs and HCare offer 
• Continuous training for pilots, especially private pilots. For example, we’re happy to announce that in May, we’ll hold our sixth “Annual Airbus Safety Seminar” for our pilot friends in Quebec. I find this initiative by Matthieu Laporte, our Quebec Sales Director, to be excellent.

Having participated in these weekends myself, the goal of providing private pilots with training, updating their skills and allowing them to meet fellow pilots makes this a fantastic experience.

• Improving customer experience. For example, take our recent collaboration with Aston Martin in creating a special edition ACH130.
• Continuous improvement of our range of products and services.

Could you tell us more about the HCare program?

With pleasure! It’s an innovative and highly interesting concept for our private and corporate clients. The program was designed for those who want peace of mind regarding their fleet maintenance planning. It provides better coverage, and most importantly, keeps the helicopter in perfect condition, ensuring an excellent resale value.

In conclusion, I’d like to point out the first H160 sale in Canada to a corporate client, as announced in 2019. We’re happy that this client, someone with a vast industry experience and whose privacy we’ll respect, has chosen the H160, it’s exciting. Very happy with this meeting! Now that’s a CEO that’s close to clients. Congratulations Airbus!