AgustaWestland, a division of Finmeccanica (Outdoor Exhibit 1), congratulated Waypoint Leasing here at the Farnborough Airshow 2014 on the rotor leasing firm’s first year of operation, which kicked off in March 2013 with an order for GrandNew, AW169, AW139 and AW189s from the OEM.

“Our relationship has strengthened and expanded since then, and we are continuing to deliver Waypoint the most modern range of high performance helicopters available in the market today,” an AgustaWestland spokesman said. “Finmeccanica-AgustaWestland congratulates Waypoint on its success over the past year and looks forward to building on our successful partnership in the future.”

Waypoint CEO Ed Washecka purchased the helicopters on behalf of clients before founding his leasing company, and that relationship formed the foundation for their relationship today. “The AgustaWestland deal is the first one Waypoint signed, Washecka said. “They entered into this contract before I had closed on my funding, so they took a risk with me, and it’s worked out.”

U.S.-based Waypoint now has on lease a fleet of 44 aircraft from AgustaWestland, Airbus Helicopters, Bell Helicopter and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. worth some $500 million, and orders for an additional 80 helicopters valued at more than $1 billion, including expected deliveries of AW109s, AW169s and AW189s in 2014 and 2015. The fleet is leased to a broad range of helicopter operators in 14 countries, supporting oil and gas missions, emergency medical services, search and rescue, firefighting, governmental support and other operations.

“We’re making the aircraft more accessible for operators and ultimately end users, and lowering their costs,” Washecka said of Waypoint and other helicopter-leasing firms established in recent years. “Now customers don’t need to make down payments or put down a deposit for a delivery position years in advance.”

By this time next year, Washecka expects Waypoint to have “well north of a billion” dollars in assets.