Russian blogger Yevgeny Matveyev reported the first flight of a Russian produced AW139 last Thursday 29th January from the Tomilino airfield just outside Moscow where the joint venture company HeliVert has its facility.  While we all know that production lines never run in order, it did surprise us to see that after flying serials 60001, 60002 and 60003 in order, the fourth to fly was 60008.  The intervening numbers in the sequence are all represented on the production line in various stages of completion.

When the announcement was made of the first Russian-produced AW139 taking to the air in December 2012, an expectation of a production target of 15-20 airframes a year was set.  However, with the second flying in February 2013 and the third in March 2014, it would seem that the state of the Russian economy is having an impact on the production rate.

HeliHub.com research indicates at least 17 AW139s operating in Russia from the Italian production line, in addition to the four produced at Tomilino.