HANGAR TALK
Leonardo Celebrates AW139 Helicopter’s 20th Anniversary of 1st Flight: Over 1,100 Sold and 3 Million Hours Flown
Leonardo recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the AW139 helicopter’s maiden flight. The first aircraft took to the skies from the company’s facility in Cascina Costa di Samarate, Italy, on Feb. 3, 2001. The helicopter flew for 45 minutes checking initial airworthiness tests, hovering, lateral and forward flight, handling qualities and subsystems. This soon confirmed the impressive characteristics and the smoothness of the new model, and its performance and capabilities were to become a new market benchmark, making it the most important helicopter program in the last two decades at an international level.
HAI Has Made the Difficult Decision to Cancel HAI HELI-EXPO 2021
HAI has made the difficult decision to cancel HAI HELI-EXPO 2021, scheduled for late March in New Orleans.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020, our HAI staff and show partners have been working to carry out an in-person show while maintaining the health and safety of all participants. We took extraordinary steps to be able to conduct a safe event.
While some in our industry have urged us to carry on with the show, the majority have recently expressed discomfort with the logistics involved in business travel at this time. HAI appreciates hearing from our diverse VTOL community, and we are grateful for the honest feedback that we’ve received from our members, exhibitors, attendees, and other stakeholders.
We know many of our partners have already invested in HAI HELI-EXPO 2021. Exhibitors have multiple options for their booth payments, including pushing participation and payment to the 2022 show in Dallas, repurposing dollars to other HAI advertising and sponsorship opportunities to support their business objectives in 2021, or receiving a full refund. Current exhibitors will be contacted with additional details, and more information on exhibitor options including helpful contacts can be found at
heliexpo.com/faq.
Registered attendees will receive a full refund, as will those who registered for HAI Professional Education courses. Our housing
The AW139 intermediate, twin-engine helicopter boasts orders of almost 1,200 units from more than 280 customers in over 70 countries on all continents. The aircraft has shown extraordinary levels of reliability and operational capabilities with more than 3 million flight hours recorded since the first delivery took place at the beginning of 2004. Data of use testifies the extreme versatility of the AW139 that satisfies any market need: approximately half the world’s fleet for public utility tasks such as search and rescue and air ambulance, law enforcement, firefighting, disaster relief and military duties. The rest account for a leading position in its class in the offshore transport sector, plus VIP, institutional and corporate transport as well as other civil missions. The AW139 fleet has a global presence: around 30% in Europe, almost as much in Asia and Australasia, 15% in the Americas, followed by the Middle East. The international success of the AW139 is so important that to meet market demands the helicopter is produced on different assembly lines both in Italy, in the Vergiate plant, and in the United States in Philadelphia that has delivered around 30% of all units to date. The U.S. Air Force will soon introduce the AW139-based Boeing MH-139 to replace the UH-1N fleet.
vendor, onPeak, will cancel all hotel reservations booked within the HAI block. Registered attendees, HAI Professional Education course registrants, and those with hotel reservations within the HAI block will receive additional communication from HAI. Please visit
heliexpo.com/faq for more information, including helpful contacts.
Please accept my apology and that of the entire HAI staff for canceling this year’s show. Just as you look forward to HAI HELI-EXPO®
each year, we look forward to seeing you there.
We appreciate your support for HAI and the industry, as well as your enthusiasm for the much-needed business, networking, and education opportunities that take place each year at our show.
All of that enthusiasm will now be directed toward HAI HELI- EXPO 2022, which will be held on March 7–10 in Dallas, Texas, a city that has traditionally been a hub of rotorcraft operations. HAI HELI-EXPO is where the international VTOL industry gathers — to connect, learn, and conduct business — and we hope to see you there.
In the meantime, let’s keep communications open. HAI will continue to work on your behalf throughout the year, providing you with the advocacy, education, and member services you require. We are here to serve you, our members and customers. Please let me know at
president@rotor.org how I and the HAI staff can help you to keep your rotors turning.
Sincerely, James A. Viola
HAI President & CEO
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