Story ID: 130Aug18
LCI Places Three AW139s With China's Kingwing
By: Mark Huber
Caption: New Helicopters Configured For EMS 
Word Count: 338

Lease Corporation International (LCI) continued its march into the helicopter EMS space in Asia and Europe last month. The company placed three new Leonardo AW139s configured for EMS operations with Shanghai Kingwing Aviation (Kingwing). The lease is LCI’s first in China. The aircraft will be delivered to Kingwing in the second half of 2018. The majority of LCI’s leases are in the EMS market and helicopter EMS is expanding rapidly in China as airspace restrictions are being eased there. Kingwing is the country’s largest helicopter EMS provider and its third largest helicopter operator overall.

LCI has established a new company based in the Tianjin Free Trade Zone DFTP Area to help it meet the growing demand in China and build its leasing business there. “China is a market with enormous growth potential in civil helicopter operations, and we are honored to partner with Kingwing in the development of its innovative and entrepreneurial approach to the provision of EMS services in China,” said LCI CEO Michael Platt.

Separately, LCI delivered a third new Leonardo AW169 medium twin configured for EMS operations to Italy’s Elitaliana. The helicopter enters service with Elitaliana on a long-term operating lease from LCI and joins two other AW169s delivered by LCI in 2016 and 2017, operating from Elitaliana’s EMS bases in Rome and the Lazio region. Founded in 1964, Elitaliana is Italy’s oldest helicopter company and operates missions that include EMS, offshore helicopter transport, environmental monitoring, forest firefighting, and search and rescue.

“This delivery to Elitaliana expands LCI’s presence in the Italian EMS market and reinforces our long-held strategy of developing a balanced and diverse portfolio, with the majority of our lease portfolio being concentrated on time-critical markets,” said LCI CEO Crispin Maunder. LCI’s fleet, which comprises approximately $750 million of assets in service and on order, is focused on the latest technology medium and super-medium helicopters from OEMs such as Leonardo, Airbus Helicopters, and Sikorsky.

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