AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, attends Dubai Airshow 2013 (November 17th – 21st) exhibiting its range of state-of-the-art helicopters and showcasing full scale mock-ups of the most recent addition to its expanding and modern product range, the AW189 8 ton class twin engine and the AW169 4.5 ton class light intermediate helicopters.
Members of the exclusive AgustaWestland Family of recent generation helicopters along with the very best-selling AW139 intermediate twin, all three models share same design philosophy and outstanding mission capability, latest certification and safety standards, components in addition to same solution to maintenance and coaching offering the market unique flexibility and value/effectiveness.
More than 80 AW189s were sold to customers worldwide thus far, particularly within the offshore and search and rescue markets, and production aircraft of the launch customer are being assembled and flight tested. The AW169 programme development is progressing as planned, with four prototypes which has logged greater than 470 flight hours thus far, and is on target to reach certification next year.
Over 100 AW169s were sold to customers worldwide covering quite a lot of applications including EMS, law enforcement, VIP/corporate transport, offshore transport and electronic news gathering.
AgustaWestland has a protracted tradition within the Middle East market and lately has significantly expanded its presence within the region with several military and commercial models sold or in operation similar to the AW109 Power and Grand/GrandNew light twins, the AW139 intermediate twin, the AW169 light intermediate, the AW189 8 ton class twin engine, the Super Lynx 300 and the NH90 military platforms.
AgustaWestland has an excellent presence particularly inside the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman. Greater than 210 new generation helicopters are on order inside the area serving a variety of customers providing in addition comprehensive support and coaching services to hide regional requirements. The 3 models from the Family especially have proved to be of serious success within the Middle East, with almost 150 helicopters in service or on order by major operators.
The best seller AW139, whose global sales now exceed 750 units and 600 aircraft already in service worldwide, has proved to be an effective success inside the Middle East market, this region alone representing around 25% of your complete AW139 sales worldwide owing to several orders in UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman for more than a few commercial and government/military operations akin to VIP/corporate transport, offshore transport, EMS/SAR, utility and homeland security. Its features make the AW139 a superb example of recent dual use platform suitable to fulfill a variety of demanding requirements.
AgustaWestland has seen an increasingly strong presence inside the United Arab Emirates covering a number commercial and government applications with a lot of its helicopter models. Leading operator Abu Dhabi Aviation (ADA) operates AW139s mainly for offshore transport purposes.
As for aftersales Abu Dhabi Aviation have been an AgustaWestland authorized Service Centre since 2005, with a three way partnership named AgustaWestland Aviation Services LLC established in late 2011 to hold out a variety of services and activities for the sale of helicopter spare parts and accessories, helicopter/component repair and overhaul, customisation, modification and upgrading. AWAS has rapidly progressed further and was providing spares for the UAE operators of AW109 and AW139 models through a sub-branch organize at Abu Dhabi Airport Free Zone since last September. In December AWAS will even have the extra capability to conduct the four year repair and overhaul of floats and rafts for a similar types.
A repair and overhaul facility in AWAS for some AgustaWestland proprietary dynamic components for the AW139 might be established in 2014. AWAS has already overhauled one AW139 and is currently overhauling additional helicopters subcontracting this activity to ADA. AgustaWestland has also partnered with Abu Dhabi Aviation and Mubadala to supply a number advanced training services inside the UAE. Falcon Aviation Services within the UAE also operates Grand/GrandNew light twin helicopters and has also signed a preliminary sales contract for 2 all new AW169 helicopters, marking the doorway of this state-of-the art model into the UAE market.
The Dubai Air Wing and the UAE Air Force also use AW139s to accomplish utility and VVIP transport operations while the Abu Dhabi Police operates a similar type for law enforcement duties.
The best-selling AW139 is playing a key role in Qatar for some of applications. The Qatar Military operate 21 multirole AW139s, including three dedicated EMS aircraft, used for utility, troop transport, search and rescue, border patrol, special forces operations, law enforcement and homeland security. Furthermore, Gulf Helicopters in Qatar has a complete of 18 offshore-configured AW139s on order and today is a crucial customer for the AW189 in offshore configuration with a preliminary sales contract for 15 units signed in 2012.
Gulf Helicopters has recently been established as an AgustaWestland Authorised Training Centre. Doha-based Gulf Helicopters provides training services using an AW139 Level B Full Flight Simulator (FFS) further cementing the strong relationship between the 2 companies who will now jointly offer AW139 pilot training services to the market, whilst strengthening the growing global support and coaching footprint for AgustaWestland aircraft.
Equally strong is AgustaWestland’s success in Oman for presidency and army applications. The Royal Oman Police operate a fleet of AW109 Power light twins and AW139s for law enforcement missions. Sixteen Super Lynx 300 multi-role military helicopters also are in service with the Royal Air Force of Oman for land and maritime roles including utility, troop transport, armed escort, search and rescue, maritime patrol and border security. Additionally, Oman has also bought 20 NH90 TTH medium twin tactical transport aircraft. In Saudi Arabia leading operator Saudi Aramco operates a fleet of AW109 Powers and AW139s for offshore transport operations while Saudi Medevac will use the AW139 for emergency medical service duties.
AgustaWestland sees significant future business opportunities inside the region for its range of helicopters. The AgustaWestland range of helicopters, that have outstanding performance in hot and high environmental conditions and have the most recent technology, are preferrred to fulfill both commercial and government requirements.
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