Business & GA

NBAA 2008: $120m Medevac double for AgustaWestland

Canadian charity Ornge has agreed a $120 million deal with AgustaWestland to buy 10 AW139 medium twin helicopters. The agreement, signed today at the show, includes an option for two additional aircraft.

The helicopters will be equipped with aero-medical interiors and a full de-icing system to allow them to operate in adverse weather conditions.

Ornge co-ordinates all aspects of Ontario’s aero-medical transport system and manages one of the largest aero medical and critical care land transport medicine programs in North America.

The company has more than 300 employees in eight areas of operation. This includes more than 200 paramedics, pediatric transport nurses and transport medicine physicians. Ornge’s expertise in transport medicine serves more than 12m Ontarians across a geographic area of 1m sq km.

The deal continues AgustaWestland’s strong sales performance on the AW139, which has led to an expansion of its final assembly operations in Philadelphia and a fledgling agreement with Russian investment company Oboronprom to extend AW139 assembly into Russia.

AgustaWestland also announced a two-aircraft order from Chevron for AW139s, which will be configured for offshore use. The AW139s will operate from company heliports at Intracoastal City, Leeville and Venice, Louisiana.

Meanwhile, AgustaWestland penned a deal at NBAA with Media Luna for for one Grand light twin helicopter. The helicopter will be used to provide executive transport missions between citrus groves around Florida for the Latt Maxcy Corporation.

This is the third AgustaWestland helicopter ordered by Media Luna, which is based in Lake Wales, Florida. The company manages operations in cattle ranching, citrus growing, banking and real estate developments.