Bel Air of Denmark has flown 600 hours with its AW189 in six months, making this aircraft the global fleet leader for the type. A total fleet of 16 AW189s have been delivered to date to customers in Europe, Middle East and Asia and the fleet has now flown more than 3,500 flight hours. The rotorcraft is expected to soon enter service in Africa and North America.

Bel Air has two AW189s in service performing long-range offshore transport missions in the North Sea, and in October 2014 signed a contract for a third aircraft.

Says md Susanne Hesselund: “At Bel Air we are very proud to be fleet leader worldwide on the AW189. This has only been possible thanks to the great cooperation we have had with the experts from AgustaWestland and support from the whole team.

“We have upgraded to 8.6 tons, giving our customers the best possible payload. We have now accomplished an amazing 1,000 flight hours on the type for Dong Energy and Hess Denmark.”

Established in 1994 Bel Air has its main base at Esbjerg Airport and operates flights there to offshore oil and gas installations as well as wind farms in the North Sea. It is the official AgustaWestland service centre for the AW139 in Denmark, and will soon be for the AW189 also.