Leonardo Helicopters has signed up Falcon Aviation Services as the launch operator of its new heliport concept – and could add the Al Bateen airport-based company to the list of customers for the AW609 tiltrotor.
Leonardo Helicopters has signed up Falcon Aviation Services as the launch operator of its new heliport concept – and could add the Al Bateen airport-based company to the list of customers for the AW609 tiltrotor.
The modular facility – designed in collaboration with Italian architects Archea Associati – brings together all the facilities of a traditional heliport with those of a dedicated business aviation terminal.
Falcon will open the first facility in 2020, which will be located at the Dubai Expo 2020 site. However, it is evaluating additional sites across the UAE.
Displayed on the representation of the heliport at the show was a model of the AW609, which is due for certification and service entry in the USA in 2020.
Leonardo intends to bring an example of the tiltrotor to the Dubai Expo event, but George Prentzas from Falcon says that it is also running the rule over the AW609.
“We are evaluating the aircraft at this time,” he says. “But at the moment there is nothing firm.”
That assessment could run “until the first order is received”, he says, noting that the AW609 could perform several missions for Falcon, including VIP transport and offshore or search and rescue missions.
Gian-Piero Cutillo, Leonardo Helicopters chief executive, says the heliport concept is “the first answer to really sustainable urban mobility in the future”.
