Leonardo Helicopters chief Cutillo gains new role as part of group shake-up

Management change at top of Italian aerospace champion raises questions over leadership of rotorcraft business.

Leonardo Helicopters could be seeking a new managing director after the incumbent, Gian Piero Cutillo, was appointed to a newly created leadership post in the wider group.

Announced following a 7 May board meeting, which also ratified the appointment of new chief executive Lorenzo Mariani, the move will see the creation of a new general management department.

To be headed by Cutillo, who becomes co-general manager, the department will report directly to Mariani.

It is so far unclear whether Cutillo will retain his role leading the helicopter division, but given the magnitude of the two posts, it is hard to see how they could be combined.

Cutillo has been in charge of the helicopter business since October 2017 and has overseen strong growth at the unit, with revenues rising from €3.2 billion ($3.7 billion) that year, to €5.8 billion in 2025, representing around 30% of the group’s total revenue.

Speaking to FlightGlobal in late February, prior to the announcement that then Leonardo chief executive Roberto Cingolani would not have his three-year mandate renewed, Cutillo said he wanted to stay in his current position “as long as I can” and was “really enjoying this role”.

Although conceding that “someone may think to give me a different job”, he indicated that “I don’t think this will happen in the short term”.

“Together with my team we have really done a lot but there are still a lot of things left to do; I’m not looking to move.”

Cutillo says the success of a divisional leader is easy to assess: “When they ask you to pass the controls to someone else, the value of the assets [in the business] has to be greater than when you received them.”

For the first quarter of 2026, the division generated EBITA of €76 million on revenue of €1.3 billion, up 8.6% and 3.6%, respectively, on figures from the same period of 2025.

A total of 29 helicopters were delivered during the first three months of 2026, against 28 a year earlier.

Highlights during the quarter included the UK’s selection of the AW149 for its New Medium Helicopter requirement, booking a 23-unit order.