Press Room

AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce that FAASA Aviación has started the 2009 fire-fighting season in Spain operating sixteen AW119 helicopters. FAASA Aviación has ordered a total of twenty AW119s so far, with sixteen units already in service and the remaining four to be delivered soon. FAASA Aviación operates throughout Spain, particularly in the Castilla-La Mancha, Andalucia and Castilla y León regions. Since the beginning of this year’s fire fighting season the AW119 Ke has performed impressively and achieved high reliability and effectiveness in the harsh operating environment. A Faasa Aviación AW119 Ke helicopter is being exhibited within the AgustaWestland static display at the Paris Air Show 2009. This helicopter is in fire-fighting configuration and fitted with all the associated optional equipment.

FAASA Aviación, one of the first customers to have chosen and introduced into service the AW119 Ke and the first type operator in Europe, is one of the leading Spanish companies providing helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft for fire-fighting. FAASA Aviación’s AW119s have accomplished several demanding fire-fighting missions thanks to the outstanding performance of this single engine type as well as to the rigorous training provided by FAASA to the personnel. FAASA Aviación is also present in Chile through FAASA Chile and started operating the AW119 Ke in Chile earlier this year. The appointment of FAASA Aviación as a new AgustaWestland service station earlier this year has further expanded the number of service and spare-parts centres worldwide as part of AgustaWestland’s customer focus strategy and one of the major steps to provide ever improving support to its growing customer base.

The 8-seats AW119 Ke is the top-of-the-range helicopter in the single engine market and has excellent performance even in extremely hot and high operating environments. The helicopter, with a MGW of 3,150 kg (6,945 lb) with external loads is a highly effective utility helicopter and is proving its abilities in the fire-fighting role in several countries using a traditional Bambi bucket or a Simplex conformal tank. Over 190 AW119 helicopters have been ordered to date in nearly 30 countries by almost 90 customers. The AW119 Ke is perfectly suited to perform several tasks including utility, fire-fighting, EMS, VIP/corporate transport, offshore transport, law enforcement and military duties.