Bristow Helicopters unveiled the much anticipated AgustaWestland AW189 helicopter to its oil and gas clients last week (30 July 2013).

The pre-production model was flown to Norwich International Airport where Bristow’s senior management team showcased the aircraft to a number of its clients who will be offered its services from early 2014.

Bristow will be the first helicopter operator to introduce the AW189 and currently has six of the aircraft on order for oil and gas operations.

The twin engine, eight tonne AW189 is expected to carry a full load of 16 passengers out to 140 nautical miles, making it ideal for offshore operations in the North Sea.

Mike Imlach, managing director, Bristow Helicopters, said: “Bristow has a long and productive relationship with AgustaWestland and we are honoured to be the launch customer for the AW189. It is a superb aircraft which will fill a gap between the medium and heavy helicopter markets. Once in operation it will be of the highest technical specification, meet all the latest safety requirements and will enable us to offer our clients state-of-the-art capabilities.

“We expect to be able to offer the model to our clients in Q1 of 2014 once the relevant certifications have been obtained and training completed. We will also be installing our own AW189 flight simulator at our Dyce training base in early 2015 so that we can train our pilots in house.”

Bristow recently signed a contract for 11 Search and Rescue AW189s to be used in the delivery of the UK Search and Rescue contract which the company was awarded by the Department for Transport. Search and Rescue operations will begin in 2015 and continue until 2026.