Asia Correspondent

Chen Chuanren

Under a deal signed this week at Rotorcraft Asia, Indonesia-based air charter firm PT Air Pacific Utama will be the first operator in the country to operate the Bell 407GXP and the first in Asia to sign up for Bell’s&nbsp;Customer Advantage Plan (CAP). The Premier CAP service program that PT Air opted for covers scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and parts for a fixed hourly cost. The company has also subscribed to CAP for its two existing Bell 407s.


Bell also logged orders for its 429 medium twin helicopter from three customers at the show—Tata Steel in India, Terra Barbaza Aviation in the Philippines and Meghna Aviation in Bangladesh, each acquiring a single unit. Meghna Aviation currently operates a Bell 407GX and a Robinson R66 and will be the first user in the country to fly the Bell 429. Vietnam Helicopter will also become the country’s first Bell 505 Jet Ranger X operator, signing a deal yesterday at Rotorcraft Asia for two of the new light helicopters.


“We are in a unique time in the Asia Pacific, because the GDP levels are up. Our key markets now are Indonesia, Philippines, India, Thailand and Australia, as well as the emerging markets such as Myanmar and Vietnam,” said Sameer Rehman, Bell Helicopter’s managing director of Asia Pacific. “We have for the first time in a very long time a golden opportunity. The corporate [sector] will see growth, but our focus will be on the parapublic side, [which will account for] a majority of our business in 2017.”


There are approximately 1,260 Bell helicopters in Asia Pacific, and the region is responsible for about 30 percent of the company’s global deliveries.

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