Australian aeromedical organisation LifeFlight has commenced a major fleet expansion with an order for four additional Leonardo AW139 helicopters to meet growing demand for its rotary wing services. The new helicopters will enhance LifeFlight's ability to perform emergency medical services, SAR operations and law enforcement missions for government and the civil sector.

The four additional aircraft come as LifeFlight and joint-venture partner StarFlight Australia celebrate a decade-long collaboration with Leonardo Helicopters. Since acquiring its first AW139 in 2015, this partnership has resulted in one of the largest fleets of AW139 helicopters in Australia. By 2027, LifeFlight and StarFlight's AW139 fleet will be among the largest in the country, with these new additions set to strengthen its HEMS, SAR, law enforcement and aviation capabilities.

LifeFlight's AW139 fleet is particularly essential for services in remote and rural areas. LifeFlight operates across 1.85 million square kilometres in Queensland and supports search and rescue efforts across 53 million square kilometres of land and sea for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

StarFlight also recently celebrated a significant achievement, surpassing 15,000 airborne hours since 2020. This places StarFlight at the top of the global leaderboard for the highest number of hours flown in a Leonardo AW139 used for law enforcement operations. The helicopters, used by Victoria Police, are equipped with advanced infrared cameras, mapping systems and object detection software, which are crucial for both marine and land-based search operations.

The AW139s on order are equipped with the latest avionics, advanced patient care capabilities and enhanced search and rescue features. The aircraft's reliability, versatility, and readiness make it a perfect fit for emergency medical service operations in Australia.

LifeFlight chief executive officer Ashley van de Velde says: “As the demand for LifeFlight's services grows, we are investing in both our fleet and infrastructure and expertise to ensure we continue to provide critical aviation and aeromedical services across Australia. This expansion of our AW139 fleet will enable us to better serve both government and commercial clients, ensuring we can continue delivering timely, high-quality aviation solutions.

“The continued growth of our fleet and modernisation of our aircraft are vital to ensuring we meet the needs of rural and remote communities across the country. The AW139's exceptional performance enables us to quickly reach isolated locations providing life-saving medical care and ensuring efficient patient transport,” he said. “Whether responding to emergencies in urban centres or remote areas, the AW139 is essential to our ability to deliver consistent and reliable care across Queensland and more broadly across the nation.

“The AW139 is ideally suited for the challenges posed by Australia's rugged terrain, whether responding to search and rescue missions or conducting winch missions for law enforcement and defence, emergency services, aeromedical retrieval operations, patient repatriation, and oil and gas. Its versatility, range and reliability make it an indispensable part of LifeFlight's capabilities. The new helicopters are well supported by LifeFlight's world-class training academy, approved maintenance organisation (AMO) team and engineering resources within LifeFlight.”

Established in 1979, LifeFlight has an advanced fleet of rotary and fixed-wing jet aircraft with highly trained medical teams and is a globally recognised training academy and Approved Maintenance Organisation. StarFlight, a subsidiary of Fox Group Holdings and LifeFlight, delivers world-leading, law enforcement and defence, and emergency coordination aviation services.

The AW139s on order will feature the latest avionics technology, patient care and search and rescue capability. Reliability, quality and serviceability, technology, size, versatility, readiness and all-round advanced capabilities that the AW139s offer make these aircraft ideal for a wide range of services in Australia.

Van de Velde continues: “Our clients across Australia have come to rely on our helicopter fleet for its robustness, capability and reliability. These aircraft provide increased speed range and operational capability, which is essential for the vast distances covered and challenging regional terrain we service in Australia. The advanced technology and payload the AW139s offer make these aircraft perfectly suited for emergency medicine, oil and gas, law and order enforcement and search and rescue services. That's why we're investing heavily in aircraft, infrastructure and people to ensure we are well positioned to meet increasing demands from our customers and the communities who rely on our services.”

With nearly 1,500 units ordered by more than 300 customers in around 90 nations and over 4.5 million flight hours logged to date since its certification in 2004, the AW139 has also proven extremely successful for rescue and emergency missions. The AW139 delivers outstanding capabilities, technology and safety to meet stringent requirements from operators for tasks in harsh conditions to maximise effectiveness. This type features state-of-the-art avionics with advanced navigation and collision avoidance systems to enhance situational awareness and reduce pilots' workload, unmatched speed, power margins and overall performance; the widest cabin in its category featuring high modularity for rapid reconfiguration; a unique more than 60 minute run-dry capable main gear box for enhanced reliability and safety; and up to 1,000 certified kits.