Leonardo announced today that Mountain Flyers of Switzerland will operate an AW169 light intermediate twin engine helicopter, marking the entry of the new generation type into the Swiss VIP market. The announcement was made during an official ceremony held at EBACE 2018 in Geneva.

This specially-configured aircraft, featuring an exclusive 7 seat VIP transport layout, will be used for heli-taxi services from Bern Airport. With this AW169, Mountain Flyers will be able to serve several routes across Switzerland and Europe with even greater capacity and range following earlier operations carried out with their GrandNew helicopter, which had established Bern Airport’s first twin engine helicopter VIP transport service. Mountain Flyers’ customers will benefit from best-in-class comfort, performance and technology as well as outstanding safety standards.

Christoph Graf, Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Flyers, said “We’re thrilled to introduce the most modern helicopter in its category into service to deliver an unprecedented flight experience to our customer base. The AW169 is the perfect fit into our service quality strategy and fully meets the most demanding expectations in terms of navigation, comfort and safety for the task.”

This latest order brings the number of VIP helicopters of Leonardo in Switzerland to over 20 and contributes to maintaining the company’s leading position in the global VIP market with a 50 percent share in the multiengine segment.