This past December marked a significant milestone in Airbus Helicopters’ history — the delivery of the first two H175 (previously known as EC175) helicopters to NHV. Since the aircraft’s delivery, the operator has put more than 500 hours on the helicopters, performing offshore oil-and-gas transport missions.
“Seven days after the delivery of a brand-new aircraft, which was the first model ever, we did our first commercial flight,” NHV CEO Eric Van Hal told Vertical.
NHV is currently operating the helicopters in the Dutch North Sea from its Den Helder, Netherlands base, performing flights at distances up to 180 nautical miles. With the H175’s design offering low vibration and noise levels, alongside Airbus Helicopters’ Helionix avionics suite, feedback from NHV has been overwhelmingly positive.
“With the feedback we have with the entry into service, we have in mind a very bright future,” Airbus Helicopters H175 program director, Marc Allongue told Vertical. “The main feedback we have got from this customer is that this aircraft is very comfortable. Comfortable in terms of vibration, low level of vibration . . . low noise inside the cabin, and also an easy-to-use helicopter.”
NHV’s H175 helicopter at HAI’s Heli-Expo 2015 in Orlando, Fla. Ken Swartz Photo
Next for the H175 program, Airbus Helicopter has launched VIP and search-and-rescue variants of the helicopter, leading to another partnership with NHV.
“We are looking also to the search-and-rescue version because we have some search-and-rescue contracts and we think this can also be a good opportunity to change to some more adapted aircraft in certain regions,” said Van Hal. “We are working together with Airbus again to develop that. First do it successfully in the oil-and-gas passenger transportation, and then see if we can go to the next level.”
For a further update on NHV’s H175 operations and to learn more about the aircraft, watch the video above.
