Leonardo and Mukamalah Aviation company (a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco) celebrated a major achievement for the operator’s AW139 intermediate twin engine helicopter fleet setting a 200,000 flight hours milestone in operations. The event was celebrated at the Paris Air Show.

Mukamalah’s CEO, Khalid Alnatour said: “As the leading corporate operator, Mukamalah is proud to be the first helicopter operators in the MENA region to achieve this significant milestone. This success would not be possible without our strong partnership with Leonardo Helicopters.”

“We congratulate our partner Mukamalah Aviation company for this amazing operational milestone. This has been set thanks to a unique combination of outstanding professional skills and expertise in top class helicopter services at Mukamalah and the unmatched capabilities and technologies embedded into our AW139. We’re glad to be part of their success delivering critical support to the energy industry and the national community and we’re committed to sustaining Mukamalah to reach greater and greater operational goals with their AW139s in the future,” said Gian Piero Cutillo, Leonardo Helicopters’ Managing Director.

One of the largest operators of Leonardo helicopters in the Middle East, Mukamalah Aviation company has been operating AW139s since 2008 and AW109 light twins since 2006, mainly to perform offshore transport missions in Saudi Arabia in support of the oil and gas industry. Today’s Mukamalah AW139 fleet consists of 24 units and additional new 3 AW139s to be delivered this year. The AW139 has outstanding hot and high performance, cabin space, and flight/navigation technology making it ideally suited for Mukamalah effective, efficient, and safe operational needs.

The world’s most important helicopter programme since its certification in 2004 and the bestselling type in its category, the AW139 has logged orders for over 1,300 units from more than 290 operators in almost 90 countries to date for all missions. The global AW139 fleet has exceeded 3.7 million flight hours logged to date. The type features state-of-the-art avionics with advanced navigation and collision avoidance systems to enhance situational awareness and reduce pilots’ workload. It has unmatched speed, power margins and overall performance. The AW139 has the widest cabin in its category, featuring high modularity for rapid reconfiguration, a unique 60+ min run-dry capable main gear box for enhanced reliability, and a number of certified kits.