Airbus Helicopters logged 362 net orders
(374 gross), highlighting the ongoing market recovery with 216 light single engine helicopters sold.
Deliveries
increased from 338 in 2021 to 344 in 2022, contributing to Airbus
Helicopters’ preliminary 52% share of the civil and parapublic
market.
Airbus’ helicopter fleet flight hours are now back to
pre-COVID 2019 levels.
“2022 was a year in which Airbus Helicopters
solidified its recovery, in a context of instability with the war
in Ukraine and a fragile supply chain,” said Bruno Even, Airbus Helicopters
CEO. “Our orders came from 203 customers in 48 countries,
underlining the importance of our global network as well as
showing that in uncertain times, the role of helicopters is more
essential than ever.”
The company broke new ground with some important first deliveries,
including the first ACH160 to a Brazilian customer,
transported by an Airbus Beluga, in July 2022.
Shortly after, All
Nippon Helicopter’s H160 entered into service in Japan and the
French Navy took delivery of the first H160 for SAR operations.
In
October, the Airbus delivered the first H135s to the Spanish
Ministry of Interior following the major order just ten months
prior.
Significant support and services contracts were
also signed for both the civil and military range. Highlights include
an NHIndustries contract with NAHEMA for the French and German
NH90s, a follow-on contract with the US Army for more than 480
UH-72A and UH-72B Lakota helicopters. The Helicopter Company
signed In-Service HCare contracts for its fleet of 20 H145s and
six ACH160s.
“It is no surprise that security is currently a
priority for many countries. This is reflected in our order book
with an important contract for 27 H125s with our longstanding
partner, the Brazilian armed forces,” added Even. “We launched a
major upgrade of the Tiger helicopter for the French and Spanish
armies and we are also progressing with the design of the H175M
assembly line in Broughton should we win the New Medium Helicopter
campaign in the UK.”
Airbus Helicopters also continued to make inroads
on its decarbonisation roadmap which is based on a threefold
approach using SAF, hybridisation, and electrification, and continued to innovate for the
military market as well.
The company furthered the development of
its own unmanned aerial system (UAS), the , which began
trialing autonomous take-off and landing capabilities at sea.
In
June 2022, Airbus Helicopters was named coordinator of the “EU
Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project” (ENGRT) which is
a Research and Technology project funded by the European Defence
Fund, paving the way for the next generation of military
rotorcraft in Europe.
“The unveiling of our DisruptiveLab demonstrator
at the Airbus Summit is another significant step to decarbonising
vertical lift. The aircraft that took flight on 13 January will
demonstrate our capability to reduce CO2 emissions by 50%. Our
commitment to sustainability also saw us forge more partnerships
that will support the optimal entry into service of the CityAirbus
NextGen, our eVTOL prototype,” Even said.
