Tuesday morning, Christophe de Courlon, president of Héli Union, took delivery of the 800th EC 365 Dauphin, an N3 model, from Fabrice Brégier, president and CEO of Eurocopter, at the Le Bourget heliport. Also present was Dr. Aibol Bekmukhambetov, president of Euro-Asia Air located in Atyrau, Kazakhstan, where the aircraft will be based. Atyrau is the oil capital of Kazakhstan.
“We now operate 35 helicopters, 21 of which are Eurocopter Dauphins,” de Courlon told Show News. “We need speed, range, room and safety equipment in a helicopter. The Dauphin provides this. It also has the power for hot-and-high operations,” he said.
High-density altitude performance will be critical in Kazakhstan. Euro-Asia Air will use the EC 365N3 to support KazMunaiGas’s exploration activities, among other companies, in the Caspian Sea area, Bekmukhambetov told Show News.
De Courlon celebrated the event by inviting several folks to fly on the 800th Dauphin from Héli Union’s Paris Heliport base at Porte de Sévres to Le Bourget. Héli Union also operates two Sikorsky S76A++, two Eurocopter 332 Super Puma and five EC 350B3 Ecureuil aircraft. —Fred George
