Airbus H145 customers will now benefit from the extension of the warranty of the H145's Arriel 2E engines from two years/1,000 hours to three years/2000 hours. This extension is valid for H145s delivered from January 2018.

Furthermore, Airbus has rolled out Helionix Step 3 on the H145, an enhanced version of Airbus' Helionix avionics suite that enhances situational awareness, improves availability, accelerates helicopter connectivity, and reduces maintenance costs.

Compared with Helionix Step 2, Helionix Step 3 improves the situational awareness of pilots and flight crews, thanks to the new Synthetic Vision System which identifies obstacles. In addition, aeronautical objects like runways and helipads, and landscape elements such as urban areas, roads and railways, can now be spotted more easily by the crew, supporting safer operations.

Helionix also tracks the flight time, measuring the exact flight time between take-off and landing. Thanks to the exact tracking of the flight time, operators can fly up-to 20% longer in the same maintenance interval in comparison to a traditional flight tracking via pilot's logbook. This leads to a reduction of direct maintenance costs of up to 6%.

The upgrade will also facilitate helicopter connectivity, allowing operators to broadcast their usage data while the helicopter is airborne via an optional communication server.

"The engine warranty extension coupled with the Helionix upgrade will offer greater value for customers by supporting safer operations and enabling operators to make use of the large quantities of data generated on each individual flight," said Axel Humpert, Head of H145 programme at Airbus.

Helionix Step 3 is also available on the H175 and will soon be available on the H135.

The H145 is the market leader for police and rescue missions with a combined fleet of over 200 helicopters worldwide, which have jointly accumulated more than 100,000 flight hours.

Contributed by Airbus