Paul Derby
The rate at which new helicopters are being delivered indicates an upturn in scheduled passenger business, says Michael Moran, Sikorsky's Director of Commercial Programmes.
Moran says almost 300,000 revenue passengers now fly in Sikorsky aircraft every year, a trend reinforced during the last 12 months with delivery of S-76C+ medium-lift utility helicopters to customers in Scandinavia and Hong Kong/Macau.
HelikopterService of Sweden operates S-76C+ helicopters between Copenhagen and the Swedish cities of Malmö and Helsingborg. Its current flight schedule calls for 60 departures a day using three aircraft.
East Asia Airlines is operating a further three S-76C+ helicopters on a scheduled service between Hong Kong and Macau.
"This is an important strategic growth market for our industry," says Moran. "These two new S-76 air carriers join Helijet Airways of British Columbia as examples of strong businesses with healthy income statements and balance sheets."
Meanwhile, a new GEC-Marconi health and usage monitoring system installation has been certificated for the S-76C+ by the civil aviation authorities of Great Britain and Norway.
Source: Flight Daily News
