Story ID: 
Milestone Becomes Largest S-92 Fleet Owner
By: Mark Huber
Caption: Takes Four More Large Sikorsky Helicopters In Purchase Leaseback Deal 
Word Count: 190
	
GE Capital Aviation Services unit Milestone Aviation Group recently completed the purchase and leaseback of four Sikorsky S-92 helicopters, boosting the company's owned and financed portfolio of S-92s to over 95—more than one-third of the total S-92 fleet. Milestone is now the owner of the largest S-92 fleet in the world.
	
Milestone CEO Daniel Rosenthal said Sikorsky “has demonstrated a focus on keeping these aircraft competitive.” In recent years the offshore industry has shifted its preference to medium and super-medium helicopters, as opposed to large helicopters such as the S-92. However, used S-92s remain price competitive for many offshore applications, and others have been shifted to search and rescue missions, where the S-92 is proving increasingly popular.
	
Sikorsky has taken significant actions in recent years to reduce the cost of S-92 operation including reducing AOG turnaround time by two-thirds, better forward stocking of parts, adding authorized service centers, increasing the intervals between major inspections, adding real-time health usage and monitoring and integrating it with the maintenance management system, interactive technical manual, and Sikorsky360 customer portal to speed maintenance recommendations and parts ordering.