First of two AW101 VVIP helicopters delivered to Turkmenistan
Assembly of the aircraft took place at AgustaWestland’s Yeovil facility in South West England. AgustaWestland has also provided pilot and maintainer training and an initial spares package under the contract.
AgustaWestland’s CEO, Daniele Romiti said: “It is a great honour that the AW101 has been selected to provide transport for Turkmenistan Airlines. We believe the AW101 is the most capable, comfortable and safe helicopter in its class and we look forward to seeing both aircrafts in service.”
The AW101 has a very spacious cabin, high levels of passenger comfort and the latest communications features, making it ideal for the transport of Heads of State and other VVIP transport duties. Its cabin is 30% larger than its nearest competitor and it can fly up to 1000 km, whilst multiple redundancy of critical systems and components gives it high levels of safety and survivability.
The aircraft departed Yeovil on 29th March, fully loaded for the five day ferry flight across Europe to Turkmenistan. The journey included stop-overs in Germany, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan prior to transiting to Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. After over 30 hours of flight time the aircraft arrived serviceable to the main operational base.
