NPAS – the UK’s National Police Air Service – have closed two more bases as planned. NPAS Ripley closed, and their EC135 will be the third in the upgrade line at Bond Air Services. The first from that process was displayed at Helitech in October 2015, and the second is currently in progress.

NPAS Sheffield has also closed on schedule, with their MD Explorer moving to NPAS Barton, and the sister ship from that base now parked up pending disposal. NPAS expect to announce in the near future which organisation has won their tender to be responsible for the disposal of one AgustaWestland AW109S and three MD902 Explorers, all of which are now surplus to requirements.

Future base closures are planned at Warton, Wattisham and Durham Tees Valley Airport by the end of March 2017, but these are all dependent on the introduction of the new NPAS fixed-wing Vulcanair P68 aircraft and thus the dates are not yet set in stone.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com