AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, announced that Genel Havacilik A.S. of Turkey has placed an order for a GrandNew light twin helicopter. The aircraft will be used to perform VIP transport missions and it is expected to be delivered in June 2011. The contract marks the entrance of the GrandNew model into the Turkish helicopter market.

Emilio Dalmasso, Senior Vice President Commercial Business Unit, AgustaWestland said: “We are proud that Genel Havacilik has become the first customer in Turkey to choose the GrandNew helicopter to meet its VIP transport requirements. The entrance of the GrandNew demonstrates the competitiveness of our state-of-the-art product range which has achieved great success in Turkey. The GrandNew’s operational capabilities, second to none in the light twin class, will greatly benefit Genel Havacilik’s operations.”

Ali Sulyak, CEO of Genel Havacilik, said ”The entire range of AgustaWestland products shares a common dedication to best quality and reliability standards as well as the best performance available today. So it is small wonder we selected the GrandNew as the aircraft of choice in its class to satisfy our requirements to operate in the most demanding hot and high conditions of Turkey and cover the long distances of Turkey with extended range and high cruise speed. Thanks to its cutting edge technology this type will enhance our operations and provide a leap forward in capability.”

The GrandNew features the most modern developments in avionics while retaining the Grand’s outstanding performance and features. The GrandNew is the first type certified light twin (CS/JAR/FAR 27) to enter service with a new EFIS featuring Synthetic Vision and the first helicopter in this class on the market fully compliant with the latest advanced global positioning system-based navigation requirements for all weather operations. The GrandNew offers operators unprecedented abilities to exploit the advantages of a helicopter. GrandNew has achieved great success around the world with orders for over 70 units being placed for various commercial applications. Orders for over 300 helicopters from the Grand series have been placed by almost 170 customers in more than 30 countries worldwide, in order to perform many tasks including VIP/corporate transport, passenger transport, EMS, SAR, harbour pilot shuttle, ENG, maritime patrol and water pollution monitoring.