Eurocopter's US arm has announced a clutch of helicopter sales to North American air medical operators and law enforcement agencies.
Corporate Jets, which operates 36 emergency medical service (EMS) bases across the USA, has taken delivery of its first EC135. Five more will be delivered over the next five years.
Metro Aviation, which completed the helicopter for Corporate Jets, is to add the EC135 to its own EMS fleet. The first has entered service and the remaining two will be delivered by June.
Omniflight, another large nationwide EMS operator, has added one EC135 and two AS350B2s to its fleet, with a third B2 to be delivered later this year. Hospital Wing, which serves medical centres in the Memphis area, has ordered anAS350B3 for delivery in July or August.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has bought its first AS350B2 for delivery by mid- year. "The new AS350B2 is the precedent for replacing the 30-year-old fleet of OH-6s operated by the DEA," says the DEA.
In other law enforcement sales, the Massachusetts state police have ordered two AS355Ns for delivery in June, with a requirement for up to three more, funding permitting. Also in June, San Francisco's East Bay regional park police will take delivery of an AS350B2.
Source: Flight International
