Airbus Helicopters has announced new orders at Heli-Expo 2017 from two major helicopter leasing companies.

Waypoint Leasing (Ireland) Limited has committed to acquiring an additional 16 Airbus rotorcraft, adding to their fleet of more than 140 aircraft, 45 of which are manufactured by Airbus Helicopters. The agreement, for more than €100m, covers 16 aircraft including supplementary H135s and H145s and, for the first time, the H175.

Waypoint will primarily lease the H135s and H145s to operators performing EMS and utility missions worldwide, while the H175 will be available for oil and gas, search and rescue and public service missions. Prior to today’s announcement, Waypoint had firm commitments for 26 H135s and H145 from Airbus.

In addition, Milestone Aviation Group Limited announced a €200m firm order with Airbus Helicopters including H145, H135 and H175 helicopters. Delivery is scheduled to begin in mid-2017 with deployment into emergency medical service and other parapublic segments.

Milestone’s current helicopter fleet includes over 60 Airbus Helicopters consisting of H130, H135, H145, H155, H175 and H225s. In 2016, Milestone acquired 10 Airbus H145s largely supporting global EMS missions and believes there is significant opportunity for this light-twin aircraft.