Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter S.A.,

trading as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturing division of

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries, holding 48% of the worldwide market share as of 2020. Its head office is located at Marseille Provence Airport in

Marignane Marignane (; ) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southern France. Geography It is a component of the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, and the largest suburb of the city of Marsei ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, near

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. The main facilities of Airbus Helicopters are at its headquarters in Marignane, France, and in

Donauwörth Donauwörth (; ) is a town and the capital of the Donau-Ries district in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is said to have been founded by two fishermen where the rivers Danube (Donau) and Wörnitz meet. The city is part of the scenic route called "R ...

, Germany, with additional production plants in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The company, originally named Eurocopter, was rebranded Airbus Helicopters on 2 January 2014.

History

Airbus Helicopters was formed in 1992 as ''Eurocopter S.A.'', through the merger of the helicopter divisions of

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale () was a major French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as () through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation ...

and

DASA DASA (officially Deutsche AeroSpace AG, later Daimler-Benz AeroSpace AG, then DaimlerChrysler AeroSpace AG) was a German aerospace manufacturer. It was created during 1989 as the aerospace subsidiary arm of Daimler-Benz, Daimler-Benz AG (later D ...

. The company's heritage traces back to Blériot and Lioré et Olivier in France and to

Messerschmitt Messerschmitt AG () was a German share-ownership limited, aircraft manufacturing corporation named after its chief designer Willy Messerschmitt from mid-July 1938 onwards, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, in parti ...

and

Focke-Wulf Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the ...

in Germany. Aérospatiale held 33% of the world's helicopter market share prior to the merger and DASA, 8%; Eurocopter's ownership was therefore split 70%–30% between the two parent companies to reflect their respective weight in the new entity. Eurocopter and its predecessor companies have established a wide range of helicopter firsts, including the first production

turboshaft A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaft horsepower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the ex ...

-powered helicopter (the

Aérospatiale Alouette II The Aérospatiale Alouette II (, "lark"; company designations SE 313 and SA 318) is a French light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale. It was the first production helicopter powered by a gas turbine e ...

of 1955); the introduction of the

Fenestron A Fenestron (sometimes alternatively referred to as a fantail or a "fan-in-fin" arrangementLeishman 2006, p. 321.) is an enclosed helicopter tail rotor that operates like a ducted fan. The term ''Fenestron'' is a trademark of multinational helic ...

shrouded tail rotor (on the

Gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . There are also seven species included in two further genera; '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third former subgenus, ' ...

of 1968); the first helicopter certified for full flight in icing conditions (the AS332 Super Puma, in 1984); the first production helicopter with a

Fly-by-wire Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional aircraft flight control system#Hydro-mechanical, manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic sig ...

control system (the

NHIndustries NH90 The NHIndustries NH90 is a European medium-sized, twin-engine, multirole military helicopter. It was the first production helicopter to feature entirely fly-by-wire flight controls.Perry, Dominic"Rotor club: Our top 10 most influential helicop ...

, first flown in full FBW mode in 2003); the first helicopter to use a Fly-by-light primary control system (an EC135 testbed, first flown in 2003); and the first ever landing of a helicopter on

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

(achieved by an AS350 B3 in 2005). As a result of the merger of Aérospatiale and DASA in 2000, which founded

, Eurocopter, now rebranded ''Airbus Helicopters'', became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airbus. The new aerospace corporation in 2000 also incorporated CASA of Spain, which itself had a history of helicopter-related activities dating back to Talleres Loring, including local assembly of the Bo105. Today, Airbus Helicopters has four main plants in Europe (

and La Courneuve in France, and

and

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

in Germany), plus 32 subsidiaries and participants around the world, including those in

Itajubá Itajubá is a municipality in southeastern Minas Gerais state of the Federative Republic of Brazil. It lies in a valley by the Sapucaí river and has terrain elevations ranging from 827 to 1500 metres, occupying an area of 290.45 km2 (112.14&n ...

, Brazil, Fort Erie, Canada,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Australia,

Albacete Albacete ( , , ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the area around the city is known as Los Llan ...

, Spain and Grand Prairie, USA. Since approximately 2006, Eurocopter has been involved in the planning for the proposed pan-European Future Transport Helicopter project. As of 2014, more than 12,000 Airbus Helicopters were in service with over 3,000 customers in around 150 countries. Eurocopter became Airbus Helicopter at the start of 2014. Eurocopter sold 422 helicopters in 2013 and delivered 497 helicopters that year. In 2014, AH built a concrete cylinder for testing helicopters before first flight. In December 2022, it was announced Airbus Helicopters has acquired the Kassel-Calden-headquartered gearbox and component supplier, ZF Luftfahrttechnik from

ZF Friedrichshafen ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, originally ''Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen'' (), and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a Germany, German technology manufacturing company that supplies systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles ...

for an undisclosed amount. The business will be rebranded as Airbus Helicopters Technik. In May 2024, Airbus Helicopters signed a MoU with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to finance civil helicopter purchases in India.

Historical emblems

Historical emblems of the company: File:Eurocopter logo (1992–2000).svg, 1992–2000 File:Eurocopter logo (2000–2010).svg, 2000–2010 File:Eurocopter company logo.svg, 2010–2014 File:Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter Group) logo.png, 2014–2017 File:Airbus Logo 2017.svg, alt=Airbus common logo since June 2017, 2017–present

Products

Some of the helicopters were renamed in 2015, resembling Airbus airplane naming. When the division changed its name from Eurocopter Group to Airbus Helicopters in 2014 the trade names of the products were changed (applied by 1 January 2016) to reflect this. Suffixes, as well as the differentiation for single or twin engines, were no longer to be used. Military versions were to be symbolized by the letter M. The only exceptions to this new branding were the AS365, the AS565, the Tiger and the NH90, which will have kept their current names.

Projects

* X³ rotorcraft – hybrid helicopter with two forward propellers, which achieved a 255-knot speed milestone in level flight in June 2011. * Airbus Helicopters X6 – Two year concept study into the possible launch of an 11.5t helicopter to replace the H225. * Airbus RACER, experimental high-speed

compound helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribut ...

developed from the X³, targeting a 2020 first flight. * Airbus CityAirbus, electrically powered

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can takeoff and landing, take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust- ...

aircraft demonstrator, intended for an air taxi role.

References

Note

External links

*
Airbus Corporate Helicopters
{{Authority control Airframe manufacturers of Europe Multinational aircraft manufacturers Defence companies of Germany Military vehicle manufacturers Defence companies of France Helicopter manufacturers of Germany Helicopter manufacturers of France German companies established in 1992 French companies established in 1992