Nextant Aerospace has completed its first sale in New Zealand, annoucing on Friday that it had sold a 400XTi quick-change air ambulance to Skyline Aviation for operations with its New Zealand Air Ambulance Service operation.
New Zealand Air Ambulance Service directors Mike and Annabel Toogood said the Nextant 400XTi would be the first fully-accredited intensive care jet ambulance service in New Zealand.
“Our investment in the Nextant 400XTi will ensure our government, assistance company and private clients, together with our patients, have access to a quality of jet aircraft, clinical support and equipment not previously available in New Zealand and all on a very competitive basis,” Mike Toogood said in a statement.
The aircraft was expected to be enter service in the middle of December 2014, and it will join two rotary-wing Eurocopter AS350 BAs and a BK117, as well as Beechcraft King Air B200C and King Air C90, Piper Navajo and Cessna 421C Golden Eagle fixed-wing aircraft in the Skyline fleet.
In addition to aeromedical work, the 400XTi will also be available for charter.
Nextant Pacific managing director Jon Oppenheim said New Zealand was a “key conquest market” for the company, which was the local sales agent for Nextant Aerospace in South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
The 400XTi is a completely rebuilt Beechjet 400A/XP with Williams FJ44-3AP engines and the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite. It also features major aerodynamic enhancements and an improved engine mounting configuration with redesigned nacelles and pylons.
