Air rescue operator Royal Dutch Touring Club (ANWB) has signed a framework contract for up to six Airbus Helicopters H135s with Helionix. An initial batch of three units are slated for delivery in 2019 and 2020.

“The people in the Netherlands rely on the HEMS services we provide in cooperation with four university hospitals, and we are confident that the H135 is the best helicopter available for our missions,” says director Petra van Saaze. “Helionix will especially help us to enhance our 24/7 operations.”

“We thank ANWB for its continued trust in Airbus Helicopters and particularly in the H135”, says head of sales for western Europe Thomas Hein. “The H135 is a proven, modern reference in air rescue all around the world.”

ANWB Medical Air Assistance is owned by Royal Dutch Touring Club ANWB and is the sole HEMS operator in the Netherlands, performing more than 8,500 missions per year, for which it is utilises six H135s. Serving four trauma centres in the Netherlands, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, ANWB is also responsible for two H145 helicopters which carry out over 600 air ambulance missions a year for the Dutch Wadden Isles in cooperation with the local ambulance service provider.

The H135 combines a wide, unobstructed cabin with strong performance, range and payload capacity, along with the ability to perform low noise operations. The sliding side doors and rear clamshell doors enable fast loading and unloading of patients, with additional safety during ground operations provided by Airbus' Fenestron tail rotor.

On top of the four-axis autopilot, Helionix offers a cockpit layout that helps to increase situational awareness. Designed with three large electronic displays, the cockpit is NVG compatible and includes a first limit Indicator which highlights the appropriate engine instrument data in one location.

More than 1,270 helicopters of the H135 family are in operation around the globe, and together they have logged almost five million flight hours.