Supply chain issues continue to constrain Airbus Helicopters’ ability to ramp up to meet the demand for its new medium H160, with the airframer currently working through a backlog of 110 orders for the type.
Airbus secured orders for 26 H160s in 2023, and delivered 20. There are now 25 H160s in service — including four that are with U.S. operator PHI in preparation for the start of a “route proving” program — and the type has recorded 4,000 flight hours across its global fleet.
Gilles Armstrong, head of the H160 program at Airbus Helicopters, said the company was targeting a production rate of 40 per year, and it hoped to hit that “as soon as we can.”
“There’s this big backlog to deliver; we want to get there and deliver that as soon as possible,” he told journalists during a pre-Heli-Expo briefing at Airbus Helicopters’ headquarters in Marignane, France. “[The H160] is very popular, and so from a product placement in the market point of view, our only limit today is what we can produce.”
The final assembly line has grown to accommodate the ramp-up, but Armstrong said the limiting factor is the supply chain.
“It’s about the classic action plans around that,” he said. “Making sure there’s the right capacity in the right places, and working through each individual issue.”
He said he hoped to hit the 40-aircraft-per-year target in 2026.
Armstrong said increasing the number of flight hours has been a key element for the program team over the last year, along with its entry into operations in new regions and in new configurations.
These include the first delivery of an ACH160 Exclusive, with VIP orders also coming from Saudi Arabia’s The Helicopter Company (THC), Air Corporate in Italy, and two customers in India.
Armstrong said he wasn’t surprised by the type’s immediate success in the business/corporate segment — which he said is part of a wider trend of growth in that segment across the manufacturer’s range.
A law enforcement-configured H160 began flight tests last year, and Armstrong said the aircraft was about “three quarters” of the way through the flight test program. The first customer for these will be the Gendarmerie Nationale — the French national police.
“Because of all these different equipment certifications and international markets, it’s a very active period in terms of product development, product certification, and entry-into-service,” said Armstrong.
Looking ahead, he said 2024 would see a faster acceleration in the global fleet’s flight hours, with the entry-into-service with offshore operator PHI a large driver behind that.
“This is going to be for us one of the big learning points of the year — to see the aircraft operating at that very high flight rate and to see whether our support system and our technical support is ready to deal with that,” said Armstrong. “We’re confident they are but the whole point is to demonstrate that through the route proving exercise.”
Meanwhile, development work is continuing on the H160M — the military version of the type. The company has started ordering components for the first prototype, which will be assembled this year.
The French armed forces will be the first customer for the type — where it will be known as the Guepard — with an initial order for 30 as part of the Light Joint Helicopter program (HIL). This requirement could rise to up to 169 aircraft.
Armstrong said Airbus has had “a lot of requests for information” on the H160M from international customers, but that it was too early in the aircraft’s development to be formalizing any interest.
“We think it’s going to be in a segment where it can be a real difference-maker compared to what exists in that medium segment,” he said. “It’s an aircraft that’s appealing in terms of its capability, both from an aircraft point of view and from a system point of view.”
