Bell Reveals Designer Cabin to Asia's Helicopter Market

The Designer Series of the Bell 429 helicopter is making its debut in Southeast Asia at this week’s Singapore Airshow, as the manufacturer looks to capitalize on what it views as strong demand throughout the region. Bell Textron also is exhibiting an example of its 505 single-engine rotorcraft and laying the groundwork for the upcoming 525 model.

Visitors will get to inspect the 429’s cabin features, including leather-covered seats, consoles, door accent panels, and headliners, as well as hardwood flooring and fresh paint schemes. With a flat floor, the 429 cabin can seat up to seven passengers.

Bell has delivered more than 450 examples of the light twin worldwide, including police forces in Indonesia, Thailand, and Australia. In applications including corporate transportation, law enforcement, and emergency medical services, the 429 fleet worldwide has logged over 602,000 flight hours.

The manufacturer recently delivered a highly customized example of the 429 to Sky Yard Aviation in the Philippines, where a dozen of the type reside. The machine featured a custom paint job and bespoke cabin interiors developed for the operator's private clients.

According to Sameer Rehman, Bell’s managing director for Asia Pacific, it introduced the Designer Series to give customers a simpler way to get the cabin interior that suits them best. “The Designer Series, by incorporating high-quality materials and workmanship takes the passenger experience up several notches,” he said.

The U.S. manufacturer is expanding its customer base in the region with the announcement on Tuesday of three contracts for the Bell 505 signed with customers in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It has also confirmed several deliveries of the Bell 407 model in this part of the world.

Malaysia’s Hammock Helicopter has ordered a pair of 505s in corporate configuration for delivery later this year. Bell also confirmed that an undisclosed operator in Indonesia and four corporate clients in the Philippines have each recently ordered one of the light singles in deals that will take the number of 505s in the region to more than 100.

Bell has just delivered a pair of 407GXi models to Meghna Aviation and Ginger Aviation in Bangladesh and Taiwan, respectively. They are the first commercial examples of the type in those countries, although the Bangladesh army already operates two of the aircraft.

Meghna Aviation now ranks as the largest commercial operator of Bell rotorcraft in Bangladesh. Ginger Aviation, which opened in 2022, aims to use the 407GXi to respond to the growing demand for powerline wash and inspection work.

In the Philippines, Aerobee Corporation has just taken delivery of its first 407GXi. The customer is an aircraft distributor and service provider active in the agricultural sector.

According to Rehman, market conditions in a vast and diverse territory extending from India to Japan and southwards to Australasia have presented strong opportunities to add to the approximately 1,400 aircraft Bell has delivered to the region. He reported to AIN increasing demand across multiple applications, including emergency medical flights and transportation for business leaders and offshore energy workers.

Rehman believes the 525 aircraft will enhance Bell’s offering, with increased performance that includes a range of 500 nm and a speed of 170 knots. He emphasized safety features such as auto-stabilization and triple-redundant fly-by-wire controls, as well as the versatility provided by a quick-change cabin that operators can reconfigure between flights.

For Bell’s Asia-Pacific team, the regional market’s exceptional diversity presents plenty of opportunity—but also some challenges in terms of infrastructure and regulatory limitations. Rehman said the company wants to get involved in discussions about how helicopters can be put to better use in applications such as transporting doctors to patients in remote, underserved communities. He added that the industry’s push to make rotorcraft operations less damaging to the environment through increased use of sustainable aviation fuel should help reinforce that trend.