Airbus Helicopters has delivered the first five-bladed H145 for offshore wind operations to its long-standing customer HTM. The aircraft will operate from HTM's bases in Norden-Norddeich, Emden and Helgoland. For its missions, which include transporting passengers to and from wind farms and carrying technicians to wind turbines, the helicopter is equipped with a powerful winch, flotation system and cargo hook.

"We already operate a four-bladed H145 in the offshore wind sector, which has proven to be perfectly suited for our operations in often challenging environments," says Bernd Brucherseifer, pilot and managing director at HTM. "The increased payload, smoother flight on board and excellent OEI performance of the five-bladed version will help us further improve our mission capabilities."

"We would like to thank HTM Helicopters for their continued confidence in our helicopters and the H145 in particular," said Axel Humpert, H145 program manager. "We are proud that our helicopters are being used to maintain offshore wind farms, which play an important role in the development of renewable energy."

The European Union has set a target to increase offshore wind energy capacity to more than 60 gigawatts by 2030 (2020: 12 GW). With its outstanding performance for transporting and winching wind farm technicians, the H145 can serve more than 95% of current and future offshore wind farm projects worldwide.