Helibras, the sole Brazilian helicopter manufacturer and subsidiary of Airbus Helicopters, has named Jean-Luc Alfonsi as its new president. Alfonsi, an experienced Airbus executive, takes charge to consolidate and expand the company's leadership in the Brazilian helicopter market.

With more than 20 years of service at Airbus, Alfonsi was recently CEO of Airbus Helicopters in Indonesia and managed the Tigre military helicopter programme in Australia. He also contributed to the global transformation of Airbus Helicopters through the implementation of a series of improvements in finance and operations. Alfonsi joined the Helibras team in 2018 as vice president of business and services.

Over the last 41 years of operations, Helibras has developed two assembly lines and an engineering centre in Itajubá. The company, which has a staff of 500 employees throughout Brazil, has delivered more than 800 helicopters for civilian and military operations.

"Jean-Luc Alfonsi's extensive experience positions him to lead Helibras into the future, based on the success the Brazilian company has achieved over the past four decades," says Airbus Helicopters senior VP in Latin America Mesrob Karalekian.

Alfonsi takes over from Richard Marelli who has held the position of president since 2015. Marelli, who started his career at Helibras in 2010, led a number of successful projects, including the largest aviation technology transfer programme between Brazil and France for the supply of 50 H225M helicopters produced in Brazil for the Armed Forces of Brazil.

"We are grateful for the years of dedication and brilliance by Richard Marelli at the helm of Helibras and his great contribution to consolidate the company as an object of pride for Brazil and a reference in Latin America for the supply of helicopters and related services," says Karalekian.