Airbus Delivered 471 Helicopters, Booked 402 New Orders in 2014

Airbus Helicopters has delivered 471 helicopters from the company’s civil, parapublic and military product lines and booked 402 net orders last year.

In addition, the backlog was adjusted to include a reduction of 33 NH90s. Military products represented 48 percent and the rest was Civil, according to the company press release.

Airbus Helicopters has marked progress with its transformation plan in 2014 by enhancing customer support and services, with safety as the priority.

Airbus Helicopters’ products accounted for 58 percent of consolidated turnover; the other 42 percent was generated by services. Moreover, 54 percent of consolidated turnover came from Europe, the Middle East and Africa; 27 percent from the Americas and 19 percent from Asia and Pacific.

New product development made headway last year, clearing the way for a 2015 first flight of its next-generation X4 medium twin engine rotorcraft to be unveiled at the Heli-Expo trade show on March 3.

Highlights of 2014 included strong commercial results for the EC145 rotorcraft family in both civil and military versions, logging a near doubling of orders booked during the year; while annual deliveries of heavyweight helicopters surpassed the 100 milestone for the first time as the company provided 53 NH90s and 48 Super Pumas to customers.

December’s entry into service of the EC175 represented another key 2014 achievement, with this rotorcraft now operating on oil and gas installations in the North Sea.

Deliveries and new contracts will continue in 2015, backed by the industrial ramp-up and a dedicated plan to ensure this helicopter’s maturity.

The first digital avionics suite to be designed and integrated by a rotorcraft manufacturer, Airbus Helicopters’ new Helionix made its debut last year on both the EC175 and EC145 T2.

Operators will benefit from the increased safety Helionix provides through reduced pilot workload, enhanced situational awareness, improved flight envelope protection and system redundancy.

For military rotorcraft, Airbus Helicopters retained its market presence during 2014 with an 11 percent share in terms of units delivered.

Milestones included completion of the Tiger attack helicopter program’s main development contract, enabling deliveries of the first Block 2 Tiger HAD fire support and destruction version to France and two of the HAD/E variant to Spain.

The company received US Army orders for 51 UH-72A Lakota, the Light Utility Helicopters version of the EC145.

Advances were made as well in Airbus Helicopters’ support and services, underscored by indicators of increasing fleet availability for customers and operators – backed by 98 percent of planned spare parts orders delivered on time.

The company also established an extended warranty offer to include 3 years or 2,000 flight hours, with the first year of labor included. Taking effect on January 1, this initiative is aligned with Airbus Helicopters’ company-wide transformation and demonstrates the efforts placed on customer satisfaction.

Topping Airbus Helicopters’ 2014 priorities was the continued focus on safety, encompassing industry-leading efforts to propose and promote changes to enhance airworthiness, increase survivability and promote standardization of operator fleet safety-related capabilities.

The 402 net bookings in 2014 by product range includes EC120/Ecureuil/Fennec/EC130 family (176), EC135 (43), EC145 (115), Dauphin/Panther/ EC155 family (28), EC175 (8) and Super Puma/Cougar EC225/EC725 family (32).