Swedish Maritime Administration

Description

The Swedish Maritime Administration's helicopter unit is fully dedicated to nation-wide airborne search and rescue services. The state organisation operates a large fleet of AgustaWestland AW139 helicopters from five stations throughout the country - Umeå, Stockholm, Visby, Gothenburg and Ronneby.

The agency has its technical bases at Gothenburg City Airport (Säve) and Umeå Airport.

Seven brand new AgustaWestland AW139s have gradually replaced the previous S-76C+/C++ helicopters. The first AW139 was deployed in active SAR service at the Umeå station on 14 April 2014. The second base to follow was Ronneby, which replaced its S-76 on 26 August 2014. The Stockholm/Norrtälje base launched its AW139 alert on 27 January 2015, Gothenburg got its new helicopter on 9 June 2015 and Visby got its AW139 on 1 April 2016.

History

The Swedish Maritime Administration is a large government agency that has its main office in Norrköping. It has been a frequent customer for helicopter services throughout the years, and it even had an own helicopter for a few years (SE-HKR, operated by Osterman Helicopter). The agency has the general responsibility for marine rescue coverage in Sweden (SAR).

Rescue helicoptersInitially, the agency maintained a suitable SAR structure through the helicopter units in the Swedish Armed Forces. As the Armed Forces decided to focus in military duties and peace-keeping operations its SAR service came to be closed gradually. The Maritime Administration assigned the large civil helicopter operator Norrlandsflyg to supply the SAR service, with a gradual increase between 2002 and 2007.

Norrlandsflyg operated the Swedish search and rescue helicopters on behalf of the Swedish Maritime Administration between 2002 and 2011. It utilized a fleet of Sikorsky S-76 helicopters for the duty.

Norrlandsflyg was acquired by the Maritime Administration on 1 November 2011. The helicopter division changed name to SMA Helicopter Rescue later the same year.

On October 16 2012 the agency announced that it had signed an agreement with AgustaWestland SpA for the acquisition of seven new AW139 helicopters in order to replace the current fleet of S-76C+/++. The first delivery took place in September 2013.

SMA Helicopter Rescue was formally incorporated in the Swedish Maritime Administration on 22 January 2014. The structural change meant that the most helicopters and the 100-person staff got directly involved in the Maritime Administration instead of the daughter company. The biggest operational change was the change from a civil air operator to a state organisation. As a result of the change, all Swedish SAR helicopters came to be operated as "State Flights”, just like the Swedish Armed Forces Helicopter Wing, the Swedish Police Wing and the Coast Guard.

The first AW139 was deployed in active SAR service at the Umeå station on 14 April 2014. The second base to follow was Ronneby, which replaced its S-76 on 26 August 2014. The Stockholm/Norrtälje base launched its AW139 alert on 27 January 2015. The fourth base was Gothenburg, which replaced the last operative S-76 (SE-JOJ) with an AW139 on 9 June 2015. The Visby base, which had been closed since 2013 due to the incorporation of the new helicopters, was re-opened in April 2016.

The first two S-76s to leave the Maritime Administration were SE-HEJ and SE-HOJ, which were returned to their American leasing owner Era Leasing LLC in October 2014. The third S-76 (SE-JOB) left for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, South America, in June 2015.