First Of The Type For Both Countries

France and the Principality of Monaco have each taken delivery of their first GrandNew light twin helicopters. The announcement of the deliveries was made during an official event held by AgustaWestland and Monacair, an affiliated company of SkyGroup, in Monaco.

GrandNew File Photo

The GrandNew, which is based on the AW Grand, is the first type certified light twin (CS/JAR/FAR 27) to enter service with a new EFIS featuring Synthetic Vision, and is the first helicopter in service in this class that is fully compliant with the latest advanced global positioning system-based navigation requirements for all weather operations. Following its launch in February this year, AgustaWestland says it has taken orders for 50 of the aircraft for a variety of applications.

These two GrandNews will be flown for passenger transport purposes and will benefit from technical support provided by Sky Maintenance Services (SMS) of France, a SkyGroup company, to maximise their operational effectiveness.

GrandNew File Photo

These two deliveries follow the appointment of SMS as an authorized AgustaWestland Service Center in May this year for the A109 series: AW109 Power, Grand and GrandNew light twin models. The Service Center, based in Le Castellet in southern France, will feature a new hangar providing maintenance and repair services as well as maintaining a spare parts inventory for the AgustaWestland light twin models, enabling AgustaWestland to offer its growing customer base in France greater levels of customer service. SMS also has a hangar facility at the heliport in the Principality of Monaco and a base in Archamps, close to Geneva, which the company says enables them to effectively serve two important areas.

FMI: www.agustawestland.com