US Part 135 operator Air Center Helicopters (ACH) has signed an Airbus HCare In-Service contract to support its fleet of 18 H225 helicopters for the next five years. ACH uses the versatile H225 aircraft to carry out a wide range of missions across the globe, including but not limited to expeditionary airlift, personnel recovery, search and rescue, medevac/casevac, Department of Defense real world scenario training, ship-based services and disaster relief.

"We are proud to support ACH's critical missions, and we're pleased it has seen great value in our HCare support and opted to upgrade its agreement," says Romain Trapp, executive vice president customer support and services for Airbus Helicopters. "We are committed to providing ACH and all of our customers with reliable support and services so they can continue operating efficiently."

The full-by-the-hour (FBH) programme provides 'tip to tail' replacement coverage of components and is paid at a fixed rate per flight hour. This results in decreased aircraft downtime and more stable maintenance expenses. ACH was previously supported by Airbus through HCare parts-by-the-hour contracts for 10 of its aircraft.

HCare is a comprehensive services offer providing superior customer service support in five domains: material management; helicopter MRO and upgrades; technical support; training and flight operations; and connected services.