New Program Seeks to Extend Legacy Model Service Life
In 2008, HeliDax entered into an agreement with the French government to provide helicopter training to the fledgling pilots of the Gendarmerie—a French national police force—and the French and Belgian armed forces. To fulfill its contractual obligations, HeliDax operates and maintains no fewer than 36 H-120 (formerly Eurocopter EC-120) helicopters—the world’s largest in-service fleet of subject model.
In 14-years of minting rotary-wing pilots for the French government and military, HeliDax’s H-120 fleet has accumulated north of 246,000 flight-hours—about five-hundred hours per-year per-helicopter. That the majority of 21st Century French military and police helicopter pilots have been trained by HeliDax is as demonstrable as it is impressive and commendable.
In 2019, HeliDax expanded its Franco-helicopter enterprise by taking on a maintenance contract for 18 H125M (formerly Eurocopter AS550) Fennec helicopters belonging to the French Army Light Aviation wing (ALAT).
In support of its expansive helicopter flight and maintenance undertakings, HeliDax has signed the first-ever HCare Classics contract with Airbus Helicopters.
Developed to meet the parts, maintenance, technical, and data needs of operators of out-of-production, Airbus legacy helicopters, the new HCare Classics support package promises to keep HeliDax’s H-120 fleet and the H125Ms for which it’s responsible flying into the coming decade.
HeliDax director Christian Prigentt states: “To continue guaranteeing our fleet and service availability until the end of our contract with the government in 2030, it is essential to have a strong commitment from our major partner, Airbus Helicopters, in terms of support and obsolescence monitoring. The HCare Classics contract secures our supply chain and replaces our acquisition of safety stocks, whose quantities are based on estimates only without taking into account future logistical supply chain risks. In this respect, and thanks to its service, which is paid per flight hour, this contract will contribute directly to our management of maintenance costs, until the end of our agreement with the French government.”
Airbus Helicopters executive vice president of customer support and services adds: “HeliDax is a great example of the many customers who continue to operate legacy helicopters to perform essential missions, and we’re honored to extend our relationship with them via this support contract. Through HCare Classics, Airbus Helicopters secures the supply chain and ensures sufficient provision of spare parts, as well as other support options specifically tailored to meet the needs of these unique operators. One example of how we approach the supply chain is by parting out aircraft as a means to inject parts into the pool, thus adding an important lever for sustainable life-cycle management of our fleet.”
In 2022, more than two-thousand legacy Airbus helicopters remain in service with approximately 750 worldwide operators. These out-of-production aircraft—which include storied models such as the Dauphin, Puma, Gazelle, and H-120—account for about 15% of the yearly flight-hours accumulated by the entirety of the global Airbus Helicopters fleet.
Cognizant of the ongoing relevance of its legacy helicopters, Airbus devised the HCare Classics as an adaptable offering by which customers may choose services germane to their respective machines. Obsolescence monitoring and management, spare parts support, maintenance planning—these and additional services are available to operators through the new HCare Classics program.
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