Airbus Delivers 7,000th Ecureuil Helicopter

The 48-year-old brand made its landmark sale to French company Blugeon Hélicoptères.

Michael Wildes

Monday, July 11, 2022 at 03:00 PM ET

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Blugeon's H125 doing aerial work over the French Alps [Courtesy: Airbus Helicopters]

Key Takeaways:

Airbus celebrated a significant milestone by delivering its 7,000th Ecureuil helicopter, an H125, to French operator Blugeon Hélicoptères, a long-standing customer utilizing the aircraft for diverse high-altitude missions.
First flown in 1974, the Ecureuil family (H125, H130, H125M) is a highly successful and adaptable light helicopter series, having accumulated over 37 million flight hours across civil and military operations.
The H125, a key model in the series, has undergone continuous enhancements, including recent power and payload upgrades, and is notably the only helicopter to have landed on Mount Everest.

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The 7,000th Ecureuil helicopter delivered by Airbus—a single-engine H125—was put together at the Airbus Helicopter facility in Marignane, France, before joining the Blugeon Hélicoptères’ fleet, which already has five H125 helicopters operating throughout France. The company flies each of its helicopters an average of 600 hours yearly for high-altitude activities like mountain rescue, preventive avalanche maintenance, filmmaking, power-line surveillance, passenger transport, and large-scale hoisting.

Christian Blugeon, CEO and founder of Blugeon Hélicoptères, said in a statement that his company was proud to add the sixth aircraft to its operation, but even more so to share a special milestone with Airbus.