Already in March this year, Rega purchased nine H145 helicopters with the innovative five-blade rotor; today an agreement was signed to procure a further 12 rescue helicopters of this type.
From 2024, these will be put into operation at Rega’s mountain bases, replacing the current AW109SP DaVinci fleet.
With its 14 helicopter bases spread throughout Switzerland, Rega provides primary medical assistance by air around the clock for the Swiss population.
To achieve this, the reliability of its aircraft is a decisive factor for Rega. For this reason, as from 2024, the Da Vinci helicopters purchased in 2009, which have more than proven themselves in practice, will be replaced by the state-of-the-art, high-performance H145 with a five-blade main rotor. The new rescue helicopters will reduce the volume and cost of maintenance work and continue to uphold the excellent availability rate of the fleet.
The decision in favour of the H145 means that Rega has now opted for a single-type helicopter fleet.
“With this decision, we are ensuring that in the next 15 years, too, Rega can continue to provide medical assistance by air to its patients professionally and reliably,” says Rega CEO, Ernst Kohler.
Benefit for patients
The new H145 is a technically sophisticated, extremely powerful helicopter, which is ideally suited to missions in high mountain regions not least due its five-blade rotor. In addition, it features a spacious cabin with sufficient room for medical equipment as well as medical interventions, which is particularly important on transfer flights for intensive care patients.
The manufacturer, Airbus Helicopters, has also designed a navigation and avionics system specially for Rega, which in future will allow instrument flight procedures to be performed in narrow valleys or challenging terrain even in the poorest of visibility – something that will benefit both patients and crews.
Single type fleet
By creating a single-type fleet, all Rega helicopter bases will operate the same helicopter type in future. This simplifies servicing and maintenance, and also saves money in terms of the procurement and management of spare parts.
Furthermore, it reduces crew training time and expenditure and allows synergies to be better utilised.
The signing of this purchase agreement marks the conclusion of a rigorous evaluation process. Rega is investing a total of over CHF 200 million in the modernisation and expansion of its helicopter fleet. This amount is provided for in Rega’s long-term financial planning and the organisation’s healthy financial position means that this project can be funded without outside capital. Included in the figure are the costs of medical equipment, training and spare parts.
The AW109SP Da Vinci helicopters that have been retired from service, together with the four-bladed Airbus H145, will be sold.
Swiss Air-Rescue Service Rega orders 12 additional five-bladed H145s for its mountain bases
Airbus Helicopters - Zürich, The Swiss Air-Rescue Service Rega has ordered a second batch of 12 five-bladed H145 helicopters to be operated from its mountain bases.
They will replace the current fleet of AW109SP helicopters. This new order follows an initial contract for nine H145s, announced in March this year. By 2026, Rega will operate an all-Airbus fleet consisting of 21 five-bladed H145s.
“To effectively operate life-saving air rescue services in Switzerland, we understand that the ability to perform optimally at altitude is paramount,” says Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters.
“The five-bladed H145 landed on the Aconcagua in Argentina, a mountain that is nearly 7,000 metres high - no other twin engine helicopter has ever achieved this feat. That is why we are especially proud that Rega has put its faith in the five-bladed H145 and decided to make it the only helicopter type in its fleet to perform such critical missions.”
“By selecting the five-bladed H145, we are ensuring that Rega will continue being able to provide its patients with reliable and professional medical assistance by air for the next 15 years,” says Ernst Kohler, CEO of Rega.
The five-bladed H145s will come equipped with a state-of-the-art navigation system, especially tailored to the operator’s needs that will enhance the mission capabilities and the safety of operations. The system will use new capabilities of the Flight Management System GTN750 Xi by Garmin.
It will integrate and control a multi-sensor system that provides highly accurate and reliable navigation capacities. Even in the event of GPS signal loss, the helicopter will navigate safely thanks to Thales’ inertial navigation system.
This solution will further boost the navigation performance in low IFR conditions and allows the helicopter to be certified as navigation procedure RNP-AR 0.1, which is the most accurate navigation procedure in the helicopter environment. The configuration also includes a new hoist by Vincorion that is being certified on the five-bladed H145, ensuring highest safety standards.
Rega operates 14 HEMS stations in Switzerland. Last year, the helicopter crews carried out 14,330 missions, including transporting 471 COVID patients.
The new version of Airbus’ best-selling H145 light twin-engine helicopter adds a new, innovative five-bladed rotor to the multi-mission aircraft, increasing the useful load of the helicopter by 150kg.
The simplicity of the new bearingless main rotor design also eases maintenance operations, further improving the benchmark serviceability and reliability of the H145, while improving ride comfort for both passengers and crew.
In total, there are more than 1,600 H145 family helicopters in service, logging a total of more than seven million flight hours.
Powered by two Safran Arriel 2E engines, the H145 is equipped with full authority digital engine control (FADEC) and the Helionix digital avionics suite. It includes a high performance 4-axis autopilot, increasing safety and reducing pilot workload. Its particularly low acoustic footprint makes the H145 the quietest helicopter in its class, while its CO2 emissions are the lowest amongst its competitors.
See also |
H145D3 in
REGA 
