Dallas, 13 March 2025 - Leonardo has announced a further growth in presence of the AW139 intermediate twin-engine helicopter in Australia at Verticon 2025, with orders for four more aircraft by LifeFlight and joint venture partner StarFlight as they celebrate 10 years of successful cooperation with the operator since it received its first AW139 in 2015. The new helicopters will be used to carry out emergency medical service, law enforcement, oil and gas operations and search and rescue response missions in Australia, with deliveries expected to be completed in 2027. It will make the combined LifeFlight and StarFlight AW139 fleet one of the largest in Australia.
Established in 1979, LifeFlight has an advanced fleet of rotary and fixed-wing jet aircraft with highly trained medical teams and is a globally recognised training academy and Approved Maintenance Organisation. StarFlight, a subsidiary of Fox Group Holdings and LifeFlight, delivers world-leading, law enforcement and defence, and emergency coordination aviation services.
The AW139s on order will feature the latest avionics technology, patient care and search and rescue capability. Reliability, quality and serviceability, technology, size, versatility, readiness and all-round advanced capabilities that the AW139s offer, make these aircraft ideal for a wide range of services in Australia.
LifeFlight and StarFlight Chief Executive Officer, Ashley van de Velde, said the organisation was expanding and the AW139s were pivotal to its growth. “Our clients across Australia have come to rely on our helicopter fleet for its robustness, capability and reliability,” he said. “These aircraft provide increased speed range and operational capability which is essential for the vast distances covered and challenging regional terrain we service in Australia. “The advanced technology and payload AW139s offer, make these aircraft perfectly suited for emergency medicine, oil and gas, law and order enforcement and search and rescue services. “That’s why we’re investing heavily in aircraft, infrastructure and people to ensure we are well positioned to meet increasing demands from our customers and the communities who rely on our services.”
This latest contract by LifeFlight and StarFlight marks a further outstanding success for the best-selling AW139 in Australia, being already the leading model for Emergency Medical Service (EMS) nationwide. The AW139 has been chosen by several operators in Australia for a range of roles covering HEMS/SAR, law enforcement, offshore transport and government roles with a fleet of around 75 units today in service, nearly 50 of them used for EMS duties.
With nearly 1500 units ordered by more than 300 customers in around 90 nations, and over 4.5 million flight hours logged to date since its certification in 2004, the AW139 has also proven extremely successful for rescue and emergency missions. The AW139 delivers outstanding capabilities, technology, and safety to meet stringent requirements from operators for tasks in harsh conditions to maximize effectiveness. This type features state-of-the-art avionics with advanced navigation and collision avoidance systems to enhance situational awareness and reduce pilots’ workload, unmatched speed, power margins, and overall performance; the widest cabin in its category featuring high modularity for rapid reconfiguration; a unique 60+ min run-dry capable main gear box for enhanced reliability and safety; and up to 1000 certified kits.
Leonardo is an international industrial group, among the main global companies in Aerospace, Defence, and Security (AD&S). With 53,000 employees worldwide, the company approaches global security through the Helicopters, Electronics, Aircraft, Cyber & Security and Space sectors, and is a partner on the most important international programmes, within these sectors, such as Eurofighter, NH-90, FREMM, GCAP, and Eurodrone. Leonardo has significant production capabilities in Italy, the UK, Poland, and the USA. Leonardo utilises its subsidiaries, joint ventures, and shareholdings, which include Leonardo DRS (72.3%), MBDA (25%), ATR (50% ), Hensoldt (22.8%), Telespazio (67%), Thales Alenia Space (33%), and Avio (29.6%). Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (LDO), in 2023 Leonardo recorded new orders for €17.9 billion, with an order book of €39.5 billion and consolidated revenues of €15.3 billion. ncluded in the MIB ESG index, the company has also been part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) since 2010.
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