On 21 October 2009, a celebration was held at PZL Świdnik facility to mark the handover of 1000th AgustaWestland fuselage manufactured in Świdnik. The event summed up the thirteen years’ successful collaboration between both companies.Their relationship started in October 1996 with PZL Świdnik delivering the first fuselage of AW109 helicopter, whose name at that time was still A109, manufactured at the request of the Italian company Agusta.
During the following years, the collaboration was developing both in terms of quality and quantity. In March 2000, PZL Świdnik manufactured the first AW139 fuselage followed by AW119 fuselage fabricated in April 2001.
The history of AW139 is of vital significance to PZL Świdnik. A contract for design, prototype build and manufacture of helicopter middle section was signed in May 1998. This gave PZL Świdnik an opportunity to participate at the design level in the implementation of a new programme for the manufacture of aircraft designed by a Western European concern. The programme was a real hit in the international market giving PZL Świdnik’s engineers and other workers a good reason to be satisfied.
Even with many years of experience in the design of own aircraft production, the AW139 programme was a big challenge to PZL Świdnik. We have made a big effort to meet all technical requirements for helicopter design in the 21st century. With support from our friends from England and Italy, we have made a significant advance in the area of computer-aided design process. We have developed and upgraded our technologies particularly in composite manufacturing. We have modified our production management techniques and expanded the machine park by adding a range of new machines. We have also put in place quality standards which made our company a trustworthy business partner.
