PARIS—The long-awaited inaugural flight of Bell Helicopter's 525
model, the first fly-by-wire commercial rotorcraft, is expected in
the next few weeks.
Matthew Hasik, the company's executive vice president for
commercial business, said the start of flight testing should occur
later this summer. The new model, designed for missions including
oil and gas operations and search and rescue flights, is expected
to be certified in the first quarter of 2017. And the model is
expected to begin commercial service in the same time frame, Mr.
Hasik said.
Meanwhile, Bell and Milestone Aviation Group announced on Monday
plans to move forward with a letter of intent to acquire 20 Bell
525 Relentless helicopters.
Delivery of the aircraft to Milestone is expected to begin in
late 2017, according to a press release from Textron Inc., which
owns Bell Helicopter.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
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