Hong Kong’s Sky Shuttle takes Delivery of First AgustaWestland Helicopters

Sky Shuttle has taken delivery of its first AgustaWestland helicopters in a ceremony held at the manufacturer’s facility in Cascina Costa, Italy. The helicopters, two out of a total 6 currently on order, are painted in the new ‘Sky Shuttle’ livery and are expected to enter commercial operations in early 2009.

Sky Shuttle - formerly known as Heli Express - currently provides cross-boundary helicopter shuttle services between Hong Kong and Macau, and Macau and Shenzhen using Sikorsky S76C+ high performance aircraft in a 12-seat configuration.

Sky Shuttle Chief Executive Officer, Cheyenne Chan said, “With these new helicopters, Sky Shuttle will be better placed to achieve the levels of performance and passenger comfort that we, as a progressive industry leader, are committed to. This delivery marks the start of a new and exciting chapter in Sky Shuttle’s history.”

Renzo Lunardi, Senior Vice President Commercial Business Unit, AgustaWestland, added, “It gives us great pleasure to be handing over the 200th AW139 Sky Shuttle, an operator with a worldwide reputation for excellence. The tremendous success of the AW139 worldwide has made it the helicopter of choice for a wide range number of applications including scheduled passenger transport and we are sure Sky Shuttle’s customers will appreciate its class leading speed and passenger comfort.”

The purchase of six AW139 aircraft is part of Sky Shuttle’s HK$130 million plus upgrading and expansion project. Upon completion of the project, Sky Shuttle will operate an all AgustaWestland AW139 fleet. The helicopters are scheduled to be delivered before 2010.

The AW139 is a market leader in its weight class with over 430 aircraft sales and this delivery ceremony marks a total of 200 aircraft deliveries since 2004. The AW139 has set new standards in the offshore oil and gas support market due to its new technology, high performance, enhanced safety and attractive operating costs.

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