Officials of Gulf Helicopters and Finmeccanica-AgustaWestland at an event. Finmeccanica-AgustaWestland yesterday said the AW139 intermediate twin and the AW189 super medium twin helicopter fleets operated by Gulf Helicopters have set “two major milestones.”
Finmeccanica-AgustaWestland yesterday said the AW139 intermediate twin and the AW189 super medium twin helicopter fleets operated by Gulf Helicopters of Qatar have set “two major milestones.”
Some 17 AW139s used for offshore operations have now achieved 75,000 flight hours while four AW189s have exceeded 1,000 flight hours in longer range oil and gas support missions.
Gulf Helicopters is a prime player in the helicopter service market in the Middle East and is benefiting from the advantages of the AgustaWestland’s family of new generation helicopters.
The AW139 and AW189, together with the AW169 light intermediate, all possess the same high performance flight characteristics and safety features whilst sharing the same common cockpit concept and design philosophy. This approach delivers real cost savings in areas such as training, maintenance and support for operators having two or three of the models in their fleets.
Gulf Helicopters CEO Mohamed al-Mohannadi said, “We are looking to expand our global presence not only for our core business of helicopter operations but also for our engineering and training capabilities. We are continuing to work with AgustaWestland and other OEMs to complement their efforts in providing efficient services with regard to engineering and training support”.
Gulf Helicopters is a subsidiary of Gulf International Services. The company has provided helicopter services since 1970 and operates with companies throughout the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Africa and North Africa.
Gulf Helicopters has its own in-house maintenance facility with a team of highly qualified and experienced engineers undertaking fleet maintenance and modification work.
Gulf Helicopters data sheet shows it first ordered the AW139 in 2007 for offshore transport missions as part of its fleet renewal and expansion plans. It is also an AgustaWestland authorised service centre for AW139s and also one of the first helicopter companies to have its own AW139 full flight simulator to support its own operations and for third party use.
Additionally, Gulf Helicopters was established as an AgustaWestland Authorised Training Centre for the type in September 2013.
The operator has a total of fifteen AW189s on order and the relevant training activities will also benefit from the purchase of an AW189 EASA CS-FSTD(H) FFS Level C Simulator from AgustaWestland.
