Airbus Helicopters and GDAT, have signed a contract for up to 20 H175 helicopters (ten firm orders and ten options). GD Helicopter Finance (GDHF), a start-up helicopter leasing and finance company based in Dublin, Ireland, will be marketing these H175 helicopters to customers in the energy, SAR, EMS and parapublic market segments worldwide. In service since 2015, Airbus’ H175 belongs to the super-medium class of helicopters, combining long-range and payload with smooth flight qualities, making it the optimal solution for a wide range of onshore and offshore mission profiles, including disaster relief, search & rescue and other public services, as well as crew change and private and business aviation.
“The creation of GDHF and this follow-on GDAT contract underlines the versatility and competitiveness of the H175 and the H160. We look forward to a long-standing partnership with GDHF as they put these multi-mission helicopters into service with their customers around the globe,” said Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters.
“GDHF is very pleased to announce the availability of 50 H160 and 20 Airbus H175 super medium helicopters to the worldwide market. This new H175 order, along with the existing 50 Airbus H160 medium helicopters already on the GDAT orderbook, will be available to GDHF. This deal will further enhance GDHF’s ability to offer our customers near term availability of efficient, cost-effective, multi-mission helicopters of the very latest technology. GDHF will build a strong relationship with Airbus to deliver high value solutions for our customers,” said Michael York, CEO of GDHF.
The Airbus Helicopters H175 (formerly Eurocopter EC175) is a 7-ton class super-medium utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter Group). Formally launched at Heli-Expo in Houston on 24 February 2008, it was predicted by Airbus Helicopters. It entered service in December 2014; in 2015, the EC175 was formally renamed to the H175, in line with Eurocopter’s corporate rebranding as Airbus Helicopters. In China, the H175 is produced by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) as the Avicopter AC352. Originally launched as the Eurocopter EC175 and the Harbin Z-15, it has been referred to as being a ‘super-medium’ helicopter. The 55 H175s currently in service have accumulated more than 210,000 flight hours, of which 184,000 in the energy sector.
