600th AW139 goes to South Africa

AgustaWestland has announced that its 600th AW139 has been delivered to a private customer in South Africa.

This aircraft is the second AW139 intermediate twin helicopter featuring a highly customised paint scheme and it will be used to perform corporate and passenger transport in South Africa and Emergency Medical Services utilising a quick convertible EMS pod.

It will also be used to perform the unconventional mission of performing aerial game counting to monitor the populations of wild animals typically found in African game reserves.

The AW139 has the provisioning to fit floatation gear, a cargo hook and is fitted with an infrared camera system to assist pilots in poor visibility conditions (clouds and/or dust for landings on unprepared surfaces). Equipped with a particle separator system, the performance of the AW139 allows for operations anywhere in Africa and in hot and high conditions.

This AW139’s cabin is provided with a mix of six backward/forward-facing seats with the possibility of quick reconfiguration on a mission by mission basis. The unique aircraft’s paint scheme provides a glimpse of Southern African art and cultural tradition with its primary focus on nature.

Andries Wannenburg, head of region Eastern and Southern Africa, said: “We are delighted to deliver this highly tailored AW139 helicopter to our customer. Its ‘one of a kind’ combination of style and multirole mission ability provides further evidence of AgustaWestland’s outstanding capability to supply customized solutions as well as the unequalled versatility offered by the AW139 design.”

The delivery of this aircraft sets another important milestone in the global success of the AW139 model and further expands the AgustaWestland range of commercial helicopters in South Africa, where 24 AgustaWestland commercial aircraft are already flying.