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Airbus Helicopters expects India’s civilian helicopter fleet to double over the next five years, driven by expanding use cases such as heli-ambulance services, disaster relief, law enforcement, and tourism.
Growth in use case scenarios of choppers in India, such as heli-ambulances, disaster relief, and law enforcement, will lead to the doubling of the country’s civilian helicopter fleet in the next five years, predicts Airbus Helicopters.
At present, India has a fleet of around 250 civil helicopters.
Speaking to businessline, Sunny Guglani, Head of Airbus Helicopters for India and South Asia, said, “This (250 civilian chopper fleet) is approximately 1 per cent of the world’s global flying fleet for civilian helicopters, civil and para-public helicopters.”
“So, if you look at the size of our country, if you look at the geography of our country, we’ve got so many hill states; unfortunately, we also have (natural) disasters. These are all geographies, and these are all missions that a helicopter is best suited for. If you put the two together, you will see that there is a huge market for civil helicopters in the country.”
According to Guglani, the new use cases of choppers in the country, such as heli-ambulances and disaster management as well as law enforcement, along with traditional segments like commercial air transportation, tourism, and others, will lead to the doubling of the current fleet size in India.
“Heli-ambulance is a new segment in India. A pilot project is going on at AIIMS Rishikesh with an H125 helicopter. We are hearing that the service has saved many lives. That is a sector that we are focusing on,” he said.
“The growth will come from mission-specific segments such as flood relief, disaster management, firefighting, and all these kinds of missions… Once we start using them (helicopters) for these missions, the numbers will start growing. We already see a lot of growth on the commercial air transportation side as well.”
Guglani said that the aerospace major is currently working “very closely with all the relevant stakeholders” to usher in the growth in these new segments.
Besides, he credited the centre’s initiatives for pushing the chopper segment in the country, like the “revised UDAN (Modified Udan) scheme, the creation of a new helicopter directorate within the DGCA, and Project Sanjeevani.
In recent times, the Centre has given a growth push to the chopper segment by creating heliports across the country under the initial regional connectivity scheme and plans to carry forward the work under the modified version of the programme, which was announced in the Union Budget for FY26.
Furthermore, businessline was the first to report last year that the centre has decided to create a dedicated “cell” that will make helicopter operations more efficient and smoother.
Moreover, independent programmes at the centre and state levels, such as ‘HEMS (helicopter emergency medical service) Sanjeevani,’ are expected to aid in the further augmentation of the chopper fleet in the country.
HEMS Sanjeevani was the first central and state government-backed service accessible to the common people.
In addition to the central-backed programmes, Guglani cited that to sustain the growth momentum, Airbus Helicopter is developing a “full ecosystem” in the country, from design to innovation to manufacturing to maintenance.
“We have an engineering centre in Bangalore where engineers are developing technologies and designing products that go into our helicopters. We are setting up the final assembly line for the H125 helicopter in India with the Tatas. We have also partnered with Indamer as an MRO service provider for our products,” Guglani said.
“So, throughout the value chain, from design to innovation to manufacturing to maintenance, we’re looking at the entire ecosystem because this entire ecosystem has to grow, and then that growth will take place in the helicopters in the country.”
Last year, Airbus Helicopters signed a deal with Tata Advanced Systems to set up a final assembly line (FAL) in India for single-engine H125 choppers.
On the component sourcing front, he said that Airbus procured $1.4 billion worth of supplies in 2024 from India-based manufacturers as a group.
“Our target is to reach $2 billion well before the end of this decade.”
Last week, Airbus Helicopters awarded Mahindra Aerostructures a contract to manufacture and assemble the main fuselage of its H130 light single-engine helicopter.
“When we invest in India, we invest across aerospace design and aerospace manufacturing, which serves both fixed-wing and helicopters.”
Published on April 16, 2025
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