Aerospace manufacturer subsidiary Airbus Helicopters reports that it logged 419 gross orders, 414 net, in 2021, with 167 customers across 45 countries, and that 338 aircraft were delivered.

This showed solid signs of recovery from the 2020 market situation, which had been heavily impacted by the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic with only 289 gross and 268 net orders.

The increase in orders for light helicopters H125 and H130 reflects the recovery of the civil and parapublic market.

Airbus Helicopters saw strong momentum from its home countries, with France ordering 40 H160s, including civil and military versions, eight H225Ms, and two H145s, Spain ordering 36 H135s and Germany procuring eight H145s for the Bavarian police force.

Further, deliveries increased from 300 in 2020 to 338 in 2021, contributing to Airbus Helicopters’ preliminary 52% share of the civil and parapublic market and confirming its position as market leader. In a number of aircraft units, Airbus Helicopters recorded a net book-to-bill ratio above one, the company says.

Order highlights for 2021 include 93 H145s and 52 H160s, including the first batch of H160Ms for the French armed forces, as well as ten H160s for the Gendarmerie Nationale, which is the first law enforcement customer for the model, the company says.

Airbus Helicopters also expanded its partnership with The Helicopter Company in Saudi Arabia, which added 20 H145s and 6 ACH160s to their growing fleet of Airbus helicopters. Further, the H225 kicked off 2021 well with its long-standing customer, the Japan Coast Guard, ordering an additional two helicopters for its fleet in March.

Further, the company ramped up its five-bladed H145 deliveries in 2021 as well as delivered the first five-bladed H145 retrofit to DRF Luftrettung, a German helicopter emergency medical services operator, at the end of May.

Other key deliveries include the first H225M for Singapore, in March, the first H225M in a naval combat configuration for Brazilian Navy and the first NH90 TTH for Qatar, which was delivered ahead of schedule.

In North America, the US Army took delivery of the first UH-72B from the Airbus Helicopters factory in Columbus, Mississippi and the Lakota fleet reached the major milestone of one-million flight hours, Airbus Helicopters says.

Last year was an essential and exciting year for innovation and product improvement at Airbus Helicopters. The H125 performance increase received both its European Union Aviation Safety Authority and Federal Aviation Administration certification enabling operators to take full advantage of the 10% power increase provided by the Arriel 2D engines. The company also added the H175M to its military product portfolio. The VSR700, Airbus’ unmanned aerial system, began its flight envelope expansion ahead of sea trials later this year.

“2021 was a year of major commitments for Airbus Helicopters. We committed to developing new products and services that fulfil our customers’ requirements such as launching the development of an innovative H160M for the French armed forces’ joint light helicopter programme and creating the new service package HCare Classics for customers that operate our legacy helicopters,” says Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even.

“We also delivered the first ever H160 to Japanese operator All Nippon Helicopter. It is our duty to innovate and to pioneer sustainable aerospace and to that end we have begun implementing the use of sustainable aviation fuel and pursued our urban air mobility journey with the unveiling of CityAirbus NextGen.

“I am proud of our teams that have worked hard to deliver all of these achievements. Their commitment to our Airbus values of teamwork, reliability, and integrity will enable us to continue working on securing the supply chain and to deliver on our continuous improvements to ease the operations of our customers. I especially value the trust that our customers place in our people, our products, and our services to help them perform their essential missions every day,” he says.

Meanwhile, the past year was especially instrumental to Airbus Helicopters' decarbonisation efforts. The helicopter Flightlab started flight testing new technologies, including the engine back-up system, which not only aims to deliver safety improvements but is also a fundamental first step on the road to hybridisation, the company says.

Airbus Helicopters also launched a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) User Group dedicated to the rotary-wing community in an effort to accelerate the deployment of biofuels, began using SAF for its training and flight tests at it main sites in France and Germany, and ended the year by flying an H225 with one engine powered by 100% SAF.

Further, in September 2021, Airbus Helicopters unveiled the CityAirbus NextGen, which is its new prototype designed to deliver zero emissions flight in urban environments. The fully electric vehicle for the Urban Air Mobility market is just one of the reasons Airbus Helicopters is looking to recruit 500 people in 2022.

Additionally, Airbus Helicopters expanded its range in 2021 with HCare Classics, which is a custom-made set of services for its legacy fleet of approximately 2 000 in-service H120, Dauphin, Puma and Gazelle helicopters.

Specifically, its HDataPower is an example of Airbus Helicopters’ ongoing commitment to digitalisation and harnessing the benefits, including time savings, higher fleet availability and optimised costs, that it can proffer to customers with Helionix-equipped aircraft by leveraging data generated by helicopter systems, the company states.