New Beau on the block
A well-known maxim in aviation is that beautiful aircraft usually fly well. Good looks are not enough though, they must be backed up by safety, features, and performance, especially if a relative new-comer is to knock an established player off its perch.
In 2017, the handsome Guimbal Cabri G2, a French-built helicopter, was the world’s most delivered two-seat rotary aircraft, after years of Robinson R22 domination. With 35 deliveries to the R22’s 34, it looked like the G2 would take over. However, in 2018 Robinson fought back with improvements to the R22, and a new offering, the Cadet, a de-rated, two-seat version of the popular R44, itself the world’s biggest selling four-seat helicopter.
The delivery figures for 2018 showed that Guimbal sold 25 G2s, and Robinson 33 R22s and 18 R44 Cadets. Significantly, however, within those statistics, R22 sales went from 14 in Q1, to just three in Q4, and Cadet sales from just one in Q1, to 10 in Q4.
That makes it 41 to 25 in Robinson’s favour. Nevertheless, the G2 is gaining much traction down under. There are more than 30 in New Zealand, and the Kiwi distributor has taken over selling to the Australian market – selling two or three straight off.
“The G2 does not suffer from mast
