Milestone Aviation and NHV Group expand partnership with first Airbus five-bladed H145 helicopter
Dublin, 19th January 2019 - The Milestone Aviation Group Limited (“Milestone”), a GECAS company and the global leader in helicopter leasing and NHV Group (“NHV”), a leading provider of B2B helicopter services, have announced an expansion of their partnership with the provision of two Airbus five-bladed H145 helicopters to support the operator’s contract with Germany’s Federal Armed Forces’ training program at Laupheim in Southern Germany.
Thomas Hütsch, Chief Operating Officer at NHV, said, “We are delighted to continue building on our long-term relationship with Milestone for this important contract win. The introduction of the five-bladed H145 into our fleet marks an important milestone in NHV’s ongoing modernization efforts, helping us to deliver our expanded services faster and more efficiently than ever before. Milestone has structured a lease solution that ideally suited our needs. We appreciate their ability to think long-term and simultaneously move quickly to execute on tight timeframes.”
With deliveries in December 2020 and January 2021, these two new H145 helicopters are the first five-bladed versions to be acquired by Milestone, and the first to be operated by NHV.
Régis Magnac, Head of Energy, Leasing and Global Accounts at Airbus Helicopters, said, “NHV and Milestone are both long-standing partners of Airbus for many years and we are honoured that they are renewing their confidence in our products with the delivery of the new five-bladed H145. This latest upgrade of the proven H145 family adds a new, innovative five-bladed rotor to the multi-mission H145, increasing the useful load of the helicopter by 150 kg. The simplicity of the new bearingless main rotor design will also ease maintenance operations, further improving the benchmark serviceability and reliability of the H145, while improving ride comfort for both passengers and crew.”
In addition to the two five-bladed H145s, Milestone also delivered a four-bladed H145 to NHV’s helicopter fleet in 2020. With this announcement, Milestone Aviation now leases eight helicopters into NHV’s fleet.
Sebastien Moulin, Head of Europe & Americas at Milestone, said, “We are delighted to support NHV as they continue to grow their operations. In particular, we are pleased to add not only our first five-bladed H145 but the first for NHV. We have worked with the NHV team for over eight years and now have a total of eight aircraft on lease covering a wide range of missions ranging from Oil & Gas transportation services, to emergency services, windfarm maintenance and now military training. The ability to provide such tailor-made solutions is a key differentiator for Milestone and illustrates the depth of service capability we offer. We look forward to further developing our partnership with NHV and continuing to be a trusted leasing partner and advisor.”