AgustaWestland is pleased to announce that Mitsui Bussan Aerospace, official distributor for the AW139 medium twin helicopter in Japan, has recently taken delivery of the first of two AW139s for All Nippon Helicopter (ANH). This aircraft is expected to be delivered by Mitsui Bussan to ANH in mid-2009. ANH will conduct electronic news gathering missions exclusively for Nippon Housou Kyoukai (NHK), Japan’s national broadcasting corporation and one of the most important in this field worldwide. The selection of the AW139 by ANH marked the entrance of the AW139 into the Japanese civil helicopter market and the first AW139 for electronic news gathering operations in the world. Thanks to state-of-the-art avionics, the best performance and the roomiest unobstructed cabin in the medium twin category, the AW139 will greatly increase customer’s mission effectiveness in terms of speed, range, endurance and comfort.

AgustaWestland has experienced strong growth in the Japanese commercial helicopter market in recent years. Its widerange of high pefromance helicopters have been able met the often demanding operational requirements of the leading operators. Japanese customers are also served with excellent product support solutions to maximize their business. The delivery of this aircraft will marks the entrance of the best selling AW139 medium twin in the Japanese civil helicopter market, however, the AW139 has already found success in Japan for law enforcement and coast guard roles. The company sees significant future business opportunities in Japan for the AW139 in both the civil and government markets. With over 100 customers from more than 40 countries having purchased over 430 helicopters so far, the AW139 has rapidly become the helicopter of choice in the medium twin class for a number of applications including offshore transport, EMS/SAR, VIP/corporate transport, law enforcement and homeland security, utility and government purposes.
All Nippon Helicopter (ANH) is the All Nippon Airways Group company that operates electronic news gathering helicopters exclusively for NHK. Founded in 1986, ANH has11 bases throughout Japan, from Sapporo to Okinawa, providing crew and maintenance technicians 24 hours per day on stand-by for urgent news gathering missions. Nippon Housou Kyoukai (NHK Japan Broadcasting Corporation), as Japan’s sole public service broadcaster, introduced a radio service in 1925 and a television service in 1953. It operates five television channels and three radio services, providing news in 18 languages on the radio and over the internet. NHK has 54 stations across Japan and correspondents in 28 locations around the world. Digital satellite TV broadcasting introduced in December 2000 was followed by the first digital terrestrial broadcasts in December 2003.

Source: Agusta Westland