UK operator Specialist Aviation Services (SAS) has secured an agreement with Kent Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance Trust (KSSAAT) to provide a second AW169 for the charity.

The charity's first helicopter will enter service later this year, while the second will go into operation later in 2017. This will bring the total number of AW169s operated and maintained by SAS to at least nine; it placed an order for six units at the recent Helitech show.

KSSAAT was one of the first UK air ambulance operators to use NVGs and provide 24-hour HEMS capability. It is collaborating with SAS to establish a joint operations and third-party maintenance facility at Redhill.

In addition to being a Leonardo Helicopters service centre, SAS has an in-house completions facility, with several AW169s currently going through the centre at Gloucestershire airport.

Says KSSAAT chief executive Adrian Bell: “The AW169 represents a huge capability shift in HEMS delivery. Patient care is at the heart of all we do, and the combination of speed, endurance and technology afforded by this aircraft, not to mention the ability to deliver patient interventions in a warm, dry and well-lit interior, is of enormous benefit to our patients.”