Page 52 - World Airnews Magazine January 2021 Edition

NEWS DIGITAL

AIRBUS DOMINATES LIGHT-TWIN

HELICOPTER MARKET

H135 is built at Donauworth
plant in Germany

This year, the H135 became available as either 2,980kg (6,570lb)
maximum take-off weight or 3,100kg alternate gross weight
While not selling in the same quantities as their lighter variants. Endurance also increased by 40min and range by 75nm
(140km).
siblings, light-twin helicopters play a significant role in society, Power on the light-twin comes from either the Safran Helicopter
notably in law enforcement and emergency medical services Engines Arrius 2B2plus or Pratt & Whitney Canada 206B3. Although
missions. the majority of H135s are built in Germany, assembly of the type is
Airbus Helicopters’ German civil production is devoted to two also taking place in Qingdao, China.
types in the light-twin segment which continue to go from strength But arguably the manufacturer’s success story at the moment is
to strength. The smaller of the two is the H135, which in November the H145. Consistently strong orders of the 3.8t platform have led
2020 passed the 1,400 delivery mark with a handover to French Airbus Helicopters to label the platform as its “best-seller” and this
operator Mont Blanc. year it gained a further edge with the service entry of the new D3
Since its introduction in 1996, the H135 has been through variant which features a five-bladed main rotor.
numerous iterations, with the latest standard including the European approval of the modification was obtained in June and
manufacturer’s Helionix avionics suite and a four-axis autopilot. was followed in late November by US certification. The additional
It holds an impressive 25% share of the emergency medical rotor blade and changes elsewhere in the helicopter lift useful load
services market, in which almost 650 examples of the type are by 150kg.
operated. Leonardo’s presence in the segment is confined to the AW109,

New five-bladed H145 variant
was certificated in June GrandNew is powered by a
pair of PW207C engines

World Airnews | January Extra 2021
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