15 February: The ceremony for the first official flight of the NH90 takes place at the Eurocopter plant in Marignane, France. The first NH90 prototype flies in the presence of military and governmental representatives from France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands (the nations participating in the NH90 Programme), military attachés of several western nations, European industry representatives and world press.
13 May: The NH90 participates for the first time in the aerial display at the ILA Airshow in Berlin. The first prototype of the NH90 helicopter (PT1) arrives in Schönefeld airport transported by a Beluga aircraft and after a very short pre-flight inspection is ready to fly in the presence of the officials, press and public visiting the airshow.
February: The EC120 is unveiled in Eurocopter’s Heli-Expo booth in Anaheim, California.
2 July: The NH90 completes its first fly-by-wire flight, and is the world’s first helicopter to be equipped with a fly-by-wire control system.
July: delivery of the 2,000th single engine Ecureuil/Fennec (an AS350 BA) to DHFS (Defence Helicopter Flying School) in charge of pilot training in the UK.
20 May: A Franco-German Memorandum of Understanding for the production of the Tiger helicopter is signed in Berlin.
22 July: Aerospatiale announces its privatisation by way of a merger with the Lagardère subsidiary Matra Hautes Technologies.
1 August: Patrick Gavin is appointed President of the Eurocopter Management Board in place of Jean-François Bigay, who takes up his new position as Senior Executive Vice President, Aeronautical Sector, within the Aerospatiale Group.
26 August: The French Ministry of Interior announces the purchase of 32 BK117 C2 helicopters through a contract worth 170 million USD with Eurocopter. This new dedicated version of the twin-engine BK117 will be used to cover the entire spectrum of public safety and passenger transport requirements over flat country, water or mountainous terrain.
17 November: DaimlerChrysler makes its stock market debut. Its subsidiary Dasa, a Eurocopter shareholder, is renamed DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG.
27 November: The maiden flight of the third prototype of the NH90 (PT3) successfully takes place. The trial starts at 5:05 p.m. and for 30 minutes, the NH90 PT3 is flown by experimental test pilot, Philippe Boutry, flight test engineer, Denis Trivier and flight engineer, Jean-Claude Rabany.