Military Market Share Maintained, 418 Aircraft Delivered
Airbus Helicopter announced its 2016 results on 27 January. Against a challenging market backdrop, the company strengthened its lead in the civil and parapublic markets, maintained its position in the military market and delivered 418 helicopters in the year, a 5% increase on 2015.
Orders taken during 2016 totalled 388 (383 in 2015), including 188 for light single-engined models, 163 for H135/H145 twins and 23 for members of the SUPER PUMA family. At year end the order backlog stood at 766 aircraft.
“For the rotorcraft industry as a whole, 2016 was probably the most difficult year of the last decade. Despite this challenging market environment, we delivered on our operational objectives and proceeded with the execution of our transformation plan,” said Chief Executive Guillaume Faury.
Highlights among defence customers in 2016 included selection of the H225M by Kuwait and Singapore and of the H135/H145 family by Britain. The first AS565MBe PANTHERs were delivered to Indonesia and Mexico and the NH90 SEA LION achieved its first flight for the German Navy.
The global fleet of some 12,000 Airbus helicopters in service with over 3,000 operators reached a milestone 90 million flight hours in 2016.
