Surprise guest at Airbus Helicopters’ new £55 million UK facility
September 16, 2024
As Airbus officially opened its new helicopter facility at London Oxford Airport – a £55 million investment two years in the making – an unannounced visitor also swung by to help celebrate the aerospace giant’s 50th anniversary in the UK.
Airbus currently supplies around half of all turbine helicopters in the UK, providing aircraft across military, paramilitary and civilian mission requirements. The opening of its new and improved facility at Oxford – with optimised capacity for its design, installation and MRO services, alongside advanced engineering and pilot training programmes – is testimony to the scale of Airbus’ UK activities.
New and improved premises
With the build of a 11,700 square metre facility at Oxford first announced in 2022, the recently-completed site is home to around 250 staff who have been occupying the new building since July. “Airbus helicopters in the UK acts as a completion centre for customised solutions for Airbus corporate helicopters, the leading supplier of business and corporate helicopters in the country,” explained policy advisor to the UK Chairman of Airbus, Teddy Chabo. Alongside completion and retrofit activities, the site also serves as a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility for organisations including the police and the military.
Up to 32 helicopters can be inducted for work here with a greater efficiency than the previous site on the other side of the airfield, owing to an optimised layout of work bays lining the floor of the main hangar. “It’s a vastly improved environment both inside for our technical workforce, and on the operation and product side,” explained Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters; citing the augmented space and better equipment as key to bolstering productivity.
Outside, eight landing pads “are able to accept all models of Airbus helicopter,” which will also now be “making full use of the sustainable aviation fuels at Oxford airport as recently made available. Airbus Helicopters UK’s commitment to use a SAF blend as part of all its Oxford-based flight operations complements the decarbonisation incentives embodied by its new building, offering 50% lower carbon emissions than its previous base.
This amalgam of buildings – described by Chief of Staff, head of safety and business transformation at Airbus UK Steve Doubleday, as “disjointed”- may well have reached the end of it useful life, clarified Oxford Airport head of business development James Dilon-Godfray, with the airport currently deciding what to do with the old premises.
Ongoing commitment to UK rotary-wing requirements
Recognising the legacy of McAlpine helicopters (founded in 1974, and a company Airbus fully acquired in 2007 as Airbus Helicopters UK), “today is not just about reflecting on the past, it’s about the future we are building together,” explained Evan. “This 55 million pound commitment by Airbus and Oxford Airport underlines our commitment to growing our presence here in the UK, where we will continue to serve both civil and governmental customers”.
Airbus currently provides all of the helicopters in service with the UK police and around two thirds of all rotary-wing craft engaged in Air Ambulance operations. This was exemplified by a new order of three H145s from Gama Aviation, which will fly with the Scottish Ambulance Service. No set delivery dates have yet been specified.
A facility fit for a prince
Among those admiring the second of the two H135s ordered by the London Air Ambulance (and to be delivered shortly after the event) was HRH the Prince of Wales, who flew into the event in a previously-unannounced personal capacity.
After serving as an RAF search and rescue (SAR) pilot, the Prince of Wales also flew emergency medical service missions with the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) from 2015 to 2017; previously expressing his admiration for “being part of a team of professional, talented people that save lives every day”.
Although Airbus is no longer a contender for the UK’s NMH bid, “all UK military pilots and their crews continue to learn their military flying on Airbus helicopters,” concluded Evan. “That’s because we provide and support the fleet of 36 Junos and Jupiters in the military flight training system, and it’s a great responsibility to support the next generation of military aviators”.
