As 2020 draws to a close, Rotorcorp is actively working with owners, operators, and maintainers of Robinson R22, R44 and R66 helicopters approaching critical 2200 hour and 12-year maintenance milestones. Purchasing major components such as main rotor blades, gearboxes, and complete overhaul kits can be a complicated process, but Rotorcorp has established a simplified and streamlined experience which allows our customers to order with confidence. Along with your organization’s maintenance budget considerations, factors like factory lead times, annual price increases, group order dates and tax year expensing can play an important role in optimizing major year-end purchases.
Robinson Lead Times
The 4th quarter is typically Robinson’s busiest season, and accordingly, overhaul kit lead times tend to increase at that time of year. While Robinson experienced delays and increased lead times throughout much of 2020 due to their partial-closure and other slowdowns stemming from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Robinson has now fully re-opened and has largely cleared the backlog. According to Robinson’s lead Customer Service Representative Frank Nieto, customers can expect lead times of approximately 8 weeks on R22 and R44 overhaul kits and an estimated 4 weeks for R66 overhaul kits through the end of the year.
Annual Price Increase & Forecast
While prices are always subject to change, Robinson Helicopter Company publishes updated annual retail prices in mid-January of each year. For the past decade, the annual price increase for overhaul kits has averaged 2.3% with an effective publication date around January 15th each year. Therefore, when the factory opens again at the beginning of January, there is a small window of opportunity to utilize your refreshed 2021 maintenance budget yet still purchase at 2020 prices before the 2021 price list goes into effect. If you are looking to recognize the expense of a major component or overhaul in 2021, let us work with you to maximize your savings and budget by purchasing while 2020 prices are still available.
The “forecast” 2021 prices are for estimation purposes only and are not in any way approved or authorized by Robinson Helicopter Company. The method to calculate these forecasts relies on historical data and takes into consideration larger trends like global fleet demand, material costs, labor costs, and data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Greater Los Angeles area for 2020 to date. Actual prices will not be published by Robinson until January 2021.
2020 Overhaul Kit Contents & Pricing
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Group Orders
As one of the largest buyers of Robinson parts, Rotorcorp routinely places large scheduled orders consisting of multiple large customer orders. These scheduled group orders create opportunities for us to provide an even larger discount to our customers who participate in each one. Considering the longer lead times and planning required, electing to participate in one of Rotorcorp’s scheduled Group orders is a great way to save significantly over our everyday low prices.
Please note that effective that Rotorcorp has restored our Standard Group Order Policies, and that earlier revisions to the policy in response to COVID-19 are no longer active.
Our remaining Scheduled Group Order dates are as follows:
October 15th, 2020
November 13th, 2020
December 11th, 2020 (Final calendar 2020 order)
January 8th, 2021 (Final order with 2020 prices)
In addition to our scheduled group orders, Rotorcorp also processes several ad-hoc orders between the published dates. If you are interested in learning more about the upcoming year-end opportunities for your parts needs, or if you would like to discuss your options and receive a quote, please contact Rotorcorp today at orders@rotorcorp.com or via telephone at +1 404-424-9105 or via WhatsApp at +1 404-991-4208.
