June 19, 2021 has gone down in history as a historic milestone for Weststar Europe BV when the newly established entity, Weststar Maintenance BV, proudly took delivery of its first helicopter in its new hangar at Den Helder Airport. The helicopter, an AW-189 with registration number 9M-WST, recently arrived from Malaysia via the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, after a journey by sea of approximately 50 days. The helicopter is the latest addition to WEU's existing fleet of five AW-139 and three AW-169 helicopters.
The AW189 will stay at Den Helder Airport for a number of weeks before being deployed for operations in Africa. Here, the aircraft will undergo maintenance and then be prepared for offshore helicopter service in Africa, which will begin in September 2021. The aircraft will also be deregistered from the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and re-registered with EASA. It was a long journey for the helicopter which has served successfully in Miri, Malaysia for the past 4 years for the multinational oil and gas companies there, namely Petronas, Shell, JX Nippon and some others.
Weststar Europe BV and its sister company in Italy Weststar NDD are subsidiaries of Weststar Aviation Services Sdn Bhd, a Malaysia-based company owned and led by its founder, Group Managing Director Tan Sri (Dr) Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim, a successful Malaysian businessman with diverse interests that include general aviation, real estate development, automotive and defense.
Weststar Europe BV is the regional office that forms the expansion of Weststar in Europe. Weststar NDD is the operational wing of the group and Weststar Maintenance was established for the sole purpose of obtaining EASA Part 145 certification in the Netherlands. With this certification, the company will be able to provide necessary maintenance services to its fleet of helicopters and other operators. As a group, we will then be fully capable of operating and maintaining our own helicopters.
Weststar thanks Den Helder Airport for providing the necessary hangar space in our pursuit of our own EASA Part 145 certification and hopes that this will be achieved in the very near future.
25-08-2021
