MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

DAP helicopter operations.

Punta Arenas based DAP airlines that pioneered flights from Chile to the Falkland Islands in the early nineties have incorporated two helicopters to its regional fleet of aircraft.

The two helicopters are of the Bolkow BO-105 model and one of them was inaugurated with a medical evacuation from Torres del Paine park where a French tourist broke his leg and had to be urgently flown to Punta Arenas hospital for surgery.

DAP has also been authorised to build a landing pad for its helicopters in the Arturo Prat jetty.

Speaking from Tokyo Andrés Pivcevic, main partner of the family business said one of the helicopters is to be chartered for tourists and the second most probably will be assigned to medical evacuation emergencies.

Mr. Pivcevic is currently part of the official Chilean delegation that is visiting Asia with President Ricardo Lagos.

"Mainly Japanese, but also Koreans are increasingly travelling to Punta Arenas all year round, both for tourism and for Antarctic related business. That is what I'm doing, promoting Punta Arenas as the main gate to Patagonia and Antarctica", said Mr, Pivcevic.

The Punta Arenas air industry businessman was also invited to a previous Chilean official trade mission to Europe that included Spain, Italy, France and Russia. On that occasion Mr. Pivcevic was named representative of the Russian Antarctic Department in Chile.