Falcon Aviation, based in Abu Dhabi, is expanding its fleet with three further AW169s. The light intermediate aircraft will enter service in the first quarter of 2018 and will be acquired through a lease with Milestone Aviation Group.

“We are delighted to partner with Falcon Aviation and grow our presence in the Middle East,” says Milestone's VP of commercial Michael York. “When we invested in a team in Dubai two years ago it was with the goal of building our support for local operators like Falcon.”

Leonardo's chief business officer Carlo Gualdaroni adds: “Falcon Aviation was the global launch customer for the offshore-configured AW169, and subsequently took delivery of a VIP-configured AW169. We are thrilled that the capabilities of this model have met Falcon's diverse operating goals and it has chosen to increase the fleet to include 11 Leonardo machines.”

With the addition of the three AW169s, Falcon Aviation's fleet will comprise five AW169s, two AW189s and four Grand and GrandNew light twins. The AW169 and AW189 models are part of a Leonardo family that also includes the AW139.

Falcon is also setting operational records with its first AW169, which has become the global fleet leader in terms of flight hours, out of a total of 40 helicopters of this model in service with customers worldwide. It has logged 500 incident free hours with the type, including 100 in the past month.