PHI Receives Milestone EC135 At AMT Conference

At an event on its booth at the Air Medical Transportation Conference in Minneapolis, MN, American Eurocopter celebrated its 2500th US helicopter delivery with long-time helicopter service company PHI, Inc.

The 2500th helicopter is an EC135 that is scheduled to be delivered to the PHI Air Medical Group shortly after AMTC.

"This is a momentous occasion for us and we are delighted to share it with our valued friends at PHI," said Marc Paganini, President and CEO of American Eurocopter. "This is a great testament to the history of our company and this achievement reflects American Eurocopter’s heritage and its development in the United States."

"We are proud to be here with American Eurocopter to celebrate this occasion and we are eager to receive the next EC135 in our fleet," said Lance Bospflug, Director of PHI, Inc. "The EC135 is designed for a variety of missions. The aircraft’s high-performance and versatility make it perfectly suited for our air medical missions."  

"The delivery of this EC135 to PHI is especially significant, since the very first helicopter delivered into the United States was an SA.3130 Alouette delivered to PHI in 1957," Paganini added.

The SA.3130 Alouette was the first civilian-certified turbine helicopter in the world and later versions were utilized heavily for AMS missions. Since that time, PHI has operated a wide variety of Eurocopter aircraft and PHI’s fleet today includes AS350B2/B3 AStars, EC135s and BK117s.

"We have a long-standing relationship with American Eurocopter and we look forward to continuing it in the future," said Bospflug.

FMI: www.eurocopterusa.com. www.phihelico.com