Helicopters Airbus Helicopters announces 2020 orders and deliveries

Last year, Airbus Helicopter was able to announce 289 gross orders. After reducing cancellations, the manufacturer logged 268 net orders in a challenging market, which of course was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

In total, the Helicopter subdivision delivered around 300 rotorcraft vehicles to customers around the globe, even with travel restrictions in place. Airbus Helicopters was able to maintain a stable 48% share of the civil and parapublic market.

Bruno Even, Airbus Helicopters CEO, said: “I am proud of our teams all over the world who adapted their ways of working to be there for our customers when they needed us the most, striving to help them to maintain their essential missions across the globe by delivering helicopters and the associated support and services they required. I would like to thank our customers for their continued trust in Airbus Helicopters [...] We certified the five-bladed H145 and the H160 and laid solid foundations for our pursuit of zero-emission technologies with our CityAirbus demonstrator,” he added.

 After certifying the five-bladed H145, Airbus Helicopters delivered the first aircraft to launch customer Norsk Luftambulanse, followed by deliveries to DRF Luftrettung at the end of the year. Also, Kuwait Air Force received their first H225Ms and September saw the 463rd delivery, on time, on cost, and on quality, of an UH-72A Lakota from the Airbus Helicopters factory in Columbus, Mississippi.

H135 received the EASA certification of an alternate gross weight and achieved solid sales with 33 units ordered. The aircraft also received a new single pilot IFR cockpit layout at the end of last year. The H160 welcomed two new customers with Milestone Aviation and Heli-Union.

On the customer support side, Airbus Helicopters was able to acquire new customers for its HCare support contract program. NASA and Air Methods Corp. were new customers for the manufacturer. Even if many aircraft were grounded, Airbus continued to provide service and maintenance work for its customers to keep operations as fluid as possible.

All in all, Airbus received 289 gross and 268 net orders while delivering 300 aircraft. The year before in 2019, the manufacturer was able to acquire orders for 369 aircraft and 332 deliveries. This reduction is attributable to the less revenue companies and operators have to purchase new helicopters.