Airbus sells first ACH160 to Southeast Asia

Airbus Corporate Helicopters (ACH) has netted its first ACH160 sale in Southeast Asia.

An undisclosed private customer in the Philippines has ordered one Airbus ACH160. The aircraft will be used for private and business flights within the Philippines Archipelago and is expected to be delivered in 2020.

The ACH160 will also be backed by the Airbus’s HCare First programme – Airbus’s in-house helicopter support plan specifically for its corporate helicopter models.

Frederic Lemos, head of Airbus Corporate Helicopters (ACH) said: “Launching the ACH160 in Southeast Asia with a new Philippine customer underlines the global attractiveness of our corporate helicopters offering to meet the evolving travelling needs of our customers.

“We are equally excited to see our ACH products gaining good success in the growing Philippine private travel market.”

ACH offers several different interior options for its helicopters. This ACH160 will be fitted with the executive interior option with two wide hinge doors, electric footsteps and a bespoke cabin. The helicopter can seat up to eight passengers.

Airbus has already secured several orders for the ACH160 this year. Last month, Airbus announced that it had sold the first ACH160 to a Chinese customer at the Paris Air Show. The customer, Shenzhen Eastern General Aviation Company, will fly the aircraft on mainly corporate and private missions across Guandong, Hong Kong and Macau.

The first ACH160 sale was announced in March last year and was sold to an unspecified US corporate customer – shortly after the launch of the designated Airbus Corporate Helicopter subsidiary.

Mr Lemos told Helicopter Investor at EBACE in May this year that Airbus has sold nine ACH160s in 2018 and had logged two orders in the first few months of the year.