Langkawi Helicopter Services (LHS) is set to expand following the purchase of 30% of the firm by Amanah Saham Anak Langkawi. Chief executive Mohammad Abdullah says that LHS will set up a helipad and helicopter-training school in Langkawi on land near the airport provided by the Langkawi Development Authority.
Mohammad says that he expects the first students - from Taiwan - to arrive in December. By early November, however, there were still no signs of any flying school or hangar on the proposed site. The chief executive says that two Robinson R-22s and four Ultrasport 496 twin-seaters have already been acquired and will be used for training initially.
LHS has also bought two Sikorsky S-58Ts from Californian Helicopters, with a delivery date of March 1997. Refurbished and re-engined with two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turbo-shafts, the S-58Ts cost $3-3.5 million each.
LHS intends to base one S-58T, in a multi-role passenger/search-and-rescue configuration, in Langkawi, while the other will operate passenger-only services from Kuala Trengganu on the Malaysian east coast, to Redang Island, where a resort hotel has recently opened.
Source: Flight International
