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CASCINA COSTA, Italy—The head of Leonardo Helicopters has given his strongest indication yet that the company is working on an evolution of its best-selling AW139 medium-twin rotorcraft.

The airframer has long been rumored to be working on a new version of the rotorcraft, with enthusiasts noting two adapted experimental AW139s—dubbed AW139 Mk.2—regularly operating in the vicinity of the airframer’s flight test facility here, including one wearing the distinctive registration, I-AWII. This aircraft has been flying regularly since 2024.

Leonardo has sold around 1,500 AW139s since the aircraft entered service in 2003 and it has become the manufacturer’s best-selling product.

The model’s success has enabled the airframer to invest in a family of new rotorcraft including the smaller AW169 and the AW149/189 super-medium rotorcraft.

Leonardo has regularly upgraded the type’s avionics suite, developed by Honeywell, and has steadily increased the maximum takeoff weight to the current 7 metric tons.

“Obviously we are thinking about which kind of evolution we can have for the [AW]139. Every company has a duty to look at this,” Gian Piero Cutillo, managing director of Leonardo’s Helicopter Division, told journalists ahead of the Verticon rotorcraft industry conference later this month. He acknowledged that the presence of aircraft already flying was a “secret de Polichinelle”—Italian for open secret—but declined to specify when the company planned to reveal more information.

“We are developing something, but we are not ready to disclose this ... but we are proceeding, and I think it’s correct to do so and see what we can do,” he said.

His comments emerged after Airbus claimed it had secured 50% market share of the commercial and parapublic medium rotorcraft market with its new H160, although Leonardo officials question the metrics of Airbus’ claims. They also note that the Airbus aircraft has a long way to go to catch up with the AW139’s sales tally.

The AW139 Mk.2 is believed to feature a new avionics suite that more closely aligns the aircraft with the AW169 and AW189 and would incorporate more lightweight materials, including thermoplastic components to reduce aircraft empty weight and improve payload performance. It may also feature a new Pratt & Whitney Canada engine to replace the existing PT6C-67C.

Another reason for not revealing a new development is that AW139s are also highly prized and retain a high residual value because they can be easily configured for new missions.

The AW139 was originally introduced as the AB139, one of a trio of products developed by the then-Bell-Agusta Aerospace Company (BAAC), along with the BA609, now the AW609 commercial tiltrotor, and the AB412+, an enhanced version of Bell’s Model 412 utility helicopter. Bell later exited the arrangement, and the aircraft subsequently received the AW139 designation. But it has since flourished and has monopolized the medium-twin rotorcraft market, outselling much of the competition.

Most have been built by Leonardo’s Vergiate facility near Rome. Around one-quarter have been produced by the company’s U.S. business in Philadelphia, and a handful were produced for the Russian market by the company’s HeliVert joint venture with Russian Helicopters in Moscow. The company is also planning to assemble the aircraft in Algeria on a new final assembly line being prepared in Ain Arnat, Algeria.