Leonardo Helicopters Appoints Stefano Villanti as Managing Director in 2026

Italy – Aerospace, defense and security group Leonardo has appointed Stefano Villanti as Managing Director of Leonardo Helicopters, effective 1 September 2026. The appointment places Villanti in charge of a rotorcraft business whose activities include helicopter manufacturing, customer support, simulation and pilot and technician training.

• Villanti has held senior leadership positions within Leonardo’s rotorcraft business for the past 10 years, including more than three years leading Sales, Marketing and Contracts for Leonardo Helicopters.
• Leonardo said Villanti’s responsibilities will include customer commitments, implementation of the helicopter business’s industrial strategy and delivery of its growth objectives.
• The leadership change comes as Leonardo continues to expand its helicopter training activities. The company’s 2024 annual report recorded five helicopter training academies and seven training centres, with 49,000 hours of simulator training, 4,400 hours of live helicopter training and 15,100 pilots and technicians trained during the reporting period. Its academy locations were listed as Sesto Calende, Yeovil, Philadelphia, Świdnik and Kuala Lumpur.
• AFM previously reported that Leonardo Helicopters and CAE’s Rotorsim joint venture plan to add a second AW139 Level D Full Flight Simulator at Leonardo’s US Training Academy in Philadelphia in 2027, expanding AW139 qualification and recurrent training capacity in the Americas.

Statements

• "Leonardo is a major global player in the rotorcraft industry — a sector that, like much of the wider Aerospace, Defence and Security landscape, is navigating a period of considerable change. This environment calls for a balanced approach: continuity in execution and performance, combined with a careful assessment of longer-term priorities and the opportunities most valuable to maintaining and strengthening Leonardo's competitiveness. With customers at the centre of everything we do, we will place acceleration in execution and innovation at the core of how we work, while continuing to enhance quality. We are fully committed to delivering on these priorities, drawing on the expertise, dedication and enthusiasm of everyone across the Division,” said Stefano Villanti, Managing Director of Leonardo Helicopters.
• "Rotorcraft technology, with its unique performance, versatility and capability features, continues to provide an invaluable contribution across all defence, public service and civil markets. We are committed to further strengthening this strategic area of business, increasingly benefitting from synergies across our entire organisation. This will allow us to rapidly understand, adapt to and respond to evolving requirements, anticipating new trends both in terms of innovation and operational needs. I wish Stefano Villanti, in his new role, and his team continued success to achieve further growth and new global competitiveness objectives," said Lorenzo Mariani, CEO and General Manager of Leonardo.

Source: Leonardo