The Great Western Air Ambulance Trust (GWAA) has confirmed to HeliHub.com that they expect to upgrade from their current Bo105 helicopter to an Airbus Helicopters EC135 this summer, with the target of the third week of August.

GWAA is one of just two UK air ambulance operators in the UK flying the Bo105, with Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance being the other.

The recent imperative which has brought the upgrade to the fore is the opening this week of the rooftop pad at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, one of the key trauma centres GWAA would use.  While our story on this helipad do feature the GWAA Bo105, what was unclear at the time was that they had stripped out all the equipment and minimised the crew to keep the operating weight light for the trials.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com