To meet the growing demand for support by the offshore and search and rescue (SAR) helicopter fleets in Northern Europe, Finmeccanica-AgustaWestland opened a new regional supply center in Aberdeen, Scotland. Located near Aberdeen Airport, the new facility has been operational 24 hours a day since January delivering spare parts to operators. The supply center supports a range of customers using the AW139 and the AW189 helicopters for offshore transportation in the North Sea.
The facility has approximately 2,000 different lines of spares and AgustaWestland expects to triple that number by the fourth quarter. Its supply center, which is currently supporting almost 80 aircraft in Northern Europe, will also act as the spare parts hub for the UK SAR program.
Also in the works is a CAE 3000 Series AW189 Level-D full-motion flight simulator, designed specifically to support training for search-and-rescue operations. It will be ready for training with Rotorsim, an AgustaWestland and CAE joint venture, in Aberdeen later this year.
