Proteus Helicopteres has taken delivery of an Agusta A109E helicopter, one of three Agusta helicopters the company has bought in the past year. The A109E will be based at Dreux, 50 kms west of Paris, and will be used for emergency medical services.

Proteus operates eight Agusta EMS helicopters at a number of locations around France, including Nantes, Bordeaux and Auxerre. Its fleet numbers 12 helicopters in total, and plans are in place to develop operations abroad in the future. Among its fleet are an EC135, EC120, B206 B3 and a Sikorsky S64 Air-Crane.

The company chose the A109E because it is in partnership with Agusta to develop this type of helicopter in France, operations spokesman Christophe Mauron told EBAN. He is not sure what the response will be towards the A109E, however, as the other EMS operators in the country operate EC135 or AS350 helicopters.

Proteus is the sole Agusta operator out of only four EMS companies in France, according to Mauron, but he says that the A109E is well-equipped and suits Proteus’ specifications.