Airbus Helicopters made a largely positive contribution to the European aerospace group’s balance sheet in the first quarter, according to results released today by parent company Airbus. In a call with financial analysts this morning, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury indicated that progress had been achieved in the rotorcraft sector mainly due to a relatively healthy military market and despite the worsening difficulties in the troubled oil-and-gas business.
Revenues from the helicopter division increased 19.4 percent for the first three months of this year to reach just over €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion). Airbus Helicopters now accounts for more than 10 percent of the Airbus group revenues, which reported a 15 percent decline in overall revenues to €10.6 billion ($11.5 billion) in the quarter.
During the first quarter, Airbus delivered 47 helicopters, which was one more than it delivered in the same period in 2019. The improved value of these deliveries and growth in associated services contributed to adjusted operating profits more than doubling to €53 million ($58 million). However, the division’s overall orders backlog fell 4.7 percent, to 702 units. It logged 54 net orders for helicopters in the quarter, which was 18 percent less than the same period last year. New sales included 21 H145 light twins, 15 UH-72s for the U.S. Army, and two Super Pumas.