AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, announced that the Dubai Police will operate five AW169 light intermediate helicopters to perform a range of missions including law enforcement, emergency medical services and VIP transport.

This contract marks the entrance of the AW169 into the Middle East parapublic helicopter market and further expands the success of the AW169 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where it has also been ordered to carry out VIP and passenger transport operations. The introduction of the AW169 for a range of public utility applications in the UAE follows the success of the AW139 for government and parapublic roles in the country.

Gulf Helicopters of Qatar has also signed firm orders for fifteen AW189 helicopters (photo). This signing follows the preliminary sale contract announced in early 2012, confirming customer’s commitment to this new generation model. The first two aircraft are planned to be delivered to the customer in 2014 and all helicopters will achieve operational readiness by 2017.

AgustaWestland also announced that Dubai Air Wing has placed an order for one AW189 8-tonne class twin engine helicopter to perform VIP transport missions. This contract is the first order for a VIP transport-configured AW189 and marks the entrance of the AW189 into the United Arab Emirates.

Lastly, Falcon Aviation Services (FAS) of Abu Dhabi (UAE) has signed firm orders for two AW169 light intermediate helicopters. The announcement was made during an official ceremony held at the Dubai Airshow on November 18th in presence of HH Sheik Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, CEO and Vice Chairman of Falcon Aviation Services,  and Mahmood Ismael, COO of Falcon Aviation Services (photo). These orders follow the preliminary sales contract signed in September 2011. The contract will expand FAS’ fleet of AgustaWestland helicopters which already includes a mix of four light twin helicopters including the Grand and GrandNew models.