The Vice President of the Republic of Panama, Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado, visited Leonardo-Finmeccanica’s factory in Vergiate (Varese) recently, home to the company’s main helicopter final assembly lines. The Vice President of Panama and a senior accompanying delegation had the opportunity to view the industrial capabilities and modern range of products that make Leonardo a leader in the global helicopter market. During the visit an AgustaWestland GrandNew helicopter, which will be used in Panama for emergency medical services, was presented to the Vice President.

Leonardo has a growing presence in Panama, and has been awarded several major Government programmes, including contracts for a digital mapping system supplied by Telespazio and AgustaWestland AW139 helicopters used for homeland security duties and utility transport.
Leonardo has also provided the new integrated Automation, Command and Control system for the newly built waterways of the Panama Canal, comprising the control rooms supporting the monitoring of the operations. The new Canal, inaugurated on 26th June, allows the transfer of ships with over 13,000 containers and enables the transit capacity to be doubled to meet the growing demand along this main international maritime trade route.

Mauro Moretti, CEO and Managing Director of Leonardo-Finmeccanica, said “Today’s event reinvigorates and strengthens our valued relationship with the Republic of Panama. Decisions made by the current management team concerning transparency and integrity principles have allowed us to close several prior issues and return to a working relationship based on trust and technological excellence. These are essential to a supplier and have been at the center of my commitment since I began in July 2014. Due to the delicate mission that it has to perform, the helicopter that we deliver today proves even more that the Republic of Panama trusts us.”

HeliHub.com editor note – this is a very positive spin on an awkward situation.  There has been significant unease in Panama over the way a Selex radar order was conducted, and Leonardo Company (parent of Selex as well as the helicopter division) has settled their differences with the Government of Panama by giving this AW109 Grand New to them at no charge – as reported by Reuters.