AgustaWestland appoints Heliconia and brings AW139s to Morocco

At the Marrakech Airshow, Heliconia placed a first order for two AW139 intermediate twin helicopters, plus a number of options, to perform offshore transport missions in Morocco. Pending delivery of the two helicopters, set for June/July this year, Heliconia has meanwhile begun its offshore transportation missions with two AW139s leased from Agusta Westland - the first use of the type in the Moroccan market.
Emilio Dalmasso, AgustaWestland’s senior vice president commercial business unit, said: “This marks a major event for the future of helicopter operations in the regional commercial market. We are confident that this is the beginning of a fruitful collaboration in a market which offers significant potential in the oil and gas industry and EMS services.”
Daniel Sigaud, president of Heliconia, described the deal as a “major milestone”. “It will bring into the Moroccan market a new generation of aircraft, which have proved over the last five years to have a major impact on oil and gas offshore activities worldwide, at a time when very substantial investments are being earmarked to explore Moroccan territorial waters. Heliconia has had to beef up very substantially its internal structures and procedures, to secure required authorisations and permits from the Morocco Civil Aviation Authorities, and match up the high technology requirements of this new generation of aircrafts. It will also permit Heliconia to extend its activities in Africa in the future.”
The AW139 has become the benchmark platform for offshore transport operations, experiencing a growing success for a variety of applications in Northern Africa as well and is well positioned to find even greater success across the region.
Heliconia has companies based in Morocco and France and is already a major player in helicopter operations in those countries offering a range of services also including aerial work and more recently offshore transport in Morocco.