Airbus has extended the warranty on its Arriel 2E engines from two years/1,000 hours to three years/2,000 hours on H145s delivered from January 2018. It has also rolled out Helionix Step 3 on the H145, an enhanced version of its Helionix avionics suite that enhances situational awareness, improves availability, accelerates helicopter connectivity and reduces maintenance costs.

Compared with its predecessor, Helionix Step 3 improves the situational awareness of pilots and flight crews thanks to the new Synthetic Vision System that identifies obstacles. In addition, aeronautical objects such as runways and helipads, and landscape elements such as urban areas, roads and railways, can now be spotted more easily by the crew thus supporting safer operations.

Helionix also tracks the flight time, measuring the exact time between take-off and landing and enabling operators to fly up to 20 per cent longer in the same maintenance interval in comparison to a traditional flight tracking via pilot's logbook. According to Airbus, this should lead to a reduction of direct maintenance costs of up to six per cent.

The upgrade will also facilitate helicopter connectivity, allowing operators to broadcast their usage data while the helicopter is airborne via an optional communication server.

Head of H145 programme Axel Humpert says: “The engine warranty extension coupled with the Helionix upgrade will offer greater value for customers by supporting safer operations and enabling operators to make use of the large quantities of data generated on each individual flight."

Helionix Step 3 is also available on the H175 and will soon be available on the H135.