AgustaWestland announced today that Milestone Aviation Group has signed a firm order for three additional AW139s that will be made available for lease to Milestone’s customers and operators globally. This contract is part of a multi-year commitment signed in September 2013 by Milestone Aviation to purchase up to 45 AgustaWestland helicopters and brings the total number of orders by Milestone to 18.

The AW139 is the first helicopter to enter service with a 60+ minute “run dry” capability in the main gear box, delivering improved safety for offshore operations. With an increase in the alternate maximum gross weight to 7 tonne, operators will also benefit from up to 700 kg of additional payload. In an offshore configuration, the 7 tonneAW139 can reach a 230 nm radius of action with eight passengers while retaining key operating and performance features.

Customers of Milestone Aviation Group, a global helicopter finance and leasing company owned by GE Capital Aviation Services, will benefit from the commonalities across the AW139, AW169 and AW189 Family of new generation helicopters spanning the 4 to 8-tonne weight classes. Sharing a common design approach and cockpit, complying with the latest safety and certification standards and with maintenance and training commonalities, the Family concept offers a range of benefits to operators of more than one type.

To date, over 220 customers have ordered more than 900 AW139 helicopters, making it the market leader in its class. With the large number of orders for the AW189 and AW169 the Family concept has found rapid market success with orders for two out of three or all three types from a number of major large fleet operators also including Bristow Group, Bond Aviation Group, Bel Air, Gulf Helicopters, INAER, Weststar Aviation Services and Era. The AW189 and AW169 have each exceeded 150 orders to customers worldwide.