Avincis has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with McDermott Aviation which if exercised will see the Lisbon headquartered emergency services provider place an order for five McDermott 214STs making Avincis the launch customer for the relaunched type. The aircraft will be employed to expand Avincis’ rotary wing aerial firefighting (AFF) capability as well as for critical utility missions across its multi continent operation.
The announcement comes as Avincis moves toward the close of an intense European wildfire season, noting that by the end of last month they had carried out more than 12,600 firefighting flight hours and nearly 5,400 missions across Spain, Portugal and Italy, dropping over 225 million litres of water. In terms of flight hours, 90% more than in the 2024 European wildfire season.
Commenting on the announcement Avincis CEO John Boag said “As demand for aerial firefighting and utility operations continues to grow, investing in versatile medium-lift aircraft is essential to ensuring we can support our customers wherever they need us most. These five aircraft give Avincis another powerful option within our integrated fleet. The 214ST’s lift, endurance and hot-and-high performance will strengthen our rotary-wing response, while its utility capability will allow us to deploy the aircraft across a wider range of critical missions throughout the year. We are not simply adding aircraft. We are giving our customers and the emergency services directing operations on the ground more options when conditions escalate.”
McDermott announced the acquisition of the type certificates from Bell for the 214B and 214 ST model helicopters at VERTICON in March of this year and is working towards resuming production of a modified version of the 214ST medium twin. The McDermott 214STs are expected to incorporate a number of improvements gleaned from decades of experience operating the type but most notable is the power plant switch from the GE CT-7s found in the Bell built aircraft to Safran Anetos for the new aircraft.
Depending on mission configuration and operating conditions, the 214ST offers up to 3,000 kg of useful load, a maximum external hook load of 3,582 kg, endurance of up to 4.1 hours and a cruise speed of 120 knots. McDermott says that its large cabin and hot-and-high performance make it well suited to AFF, the transport of crews and equipment, external-load operations and missions.
John McDermott, Founder and President of McDermott Aviation, says the agreement represented an important milestone for the McDermott 214ST programme and reflected growing international demand for capable, mission-ready aircraft. “We’ve believed in the capability of the 214ST for a long time. An agreement for five aircraft is a significant step forward for the program and reinforces the role we believe this aircraft can play in firefighting and utility operations globally. We have spent decades operating, maintaining and engineering the 214 series in some of the toughest environments in the world. That experience gives us a very clear understanding of what the aircraft is capable of and what operators need from it”.
Image: Avincis
