RNZAF’s NH90 sets 3,000 flight-hour milestone

Out at RNZAF Base Ohakea, an NH90 Tactical Troop Helicopter designated TNZA002 has quietly written aviation history. On Wednesday, 26 August 2026, the aircraft clocked 3,000 flight hours, the first NH90 anywhere on the globe to pass the 3,000 flight hour mark. Out of roughly 530 NH90 aircraft in active service across multiple configurations worldwide, New Zealand’s No. 3 Squadron leads the entire international fleet. Remarkably, the squadron achieves this global benchmark from a base of just eight operational aircraft. The world record is not a matter of product age, as older NH90 airframes continue to fly across Europe, but rather a reflection of pure operational intensity. Fifteen years after the first two NH90s arrived in New Zealand in December 2011 to replace the Air Force’s ageing Iroquois fleet, the Kiwis fly each aircraft harder and more frequently than any other operator. “It’s a significant achievement for what is a small fleet and small team,” NH90 Flight Commander Squadron Leader Lachie Johnston said.“We need to always have these aircraft available to fly and it’s a testament to the maintainers, who put in the long days in often trying conditions to get the helicopters flying, as well as the supply chain, and the fleet planners. “They are the secret sauce to our success.” The New Zealand NH90 fleet is unique, as it supports a broad range of both civil and military missions. From tactical troop transport, search and rescue, casualty evacuation, and support for police and government agencies, to complex alpine tasks, maritime deployments off HMNZS Canterbury, and humanitarian disaster relief across the Pacific, the fleet is in constant demand. When the November 2016 Kaikōura earthquake severed every road into the region, RNZAF NH90s established an emergency air bridge by midday. Patrick Power, Airbus Team Lead for the NH90 programme and the only person in New Zealand to have worked continuously on the platform since its introduction in 2011 across both uniformed RNZAF and civil roles, was right in the middle of the response. He recalls arriving in Christchurch that evening with three NH90s to deliver critical aid and evacuate stranded civilians. “Trucks would arrive with aid and we would load it onto the helicopter, they would depart for Kaikōura, and return with a full load of people,” Power recalls. “We would load it again, repeating that cycle many times a day.” Maintainers also had to keep up with the intense pace on the ground. “I always remember we had to clean the windscreen every time they came back because there were so many other helicopters in the sky doing rescue work that any small black mark looked like another aircraft,” Power says. “The rate of effort was intense as we had to perform all the maintenance and get them ready for the next day, but it was very rewarding because you knew you were making a difference.” A similar story unfolded during Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023. When the Commanding Officer of No. 3 Squadron walked into the maintenance office asking how many aircraft could be readied, a surveying NH90 had just radioed back requesting maximum assistance as floodwaters rose rapidly around trapped residents. Power was serving as Hangar Manager at the time, in charge of day-to-day maintenance when the maintenance team made seven of the fleet’s eight helicopters available that day. With the eighth airframe mid-servicing, a full 100 per cent of available aircraft deployed into harm’s way. Over the course of the disaster response, No. 3 Squadron crews evacuated 384 people and 23 pets, many winched directly from the roofs of submerged homes, while transporting 25,600 kilograms of external and 66,810 kilograms of internal cargo. Coupled with emergency deployments during the 2019 Whakaari White Island eruption and the 2020 Australian bushfires, the high demand placed on the airframes is clear. Sustaining such high operational outputs requires an exceptional maintenance foundation. Since 2015, Airbus Helicopters has provided an embedded workforce that sits directly inside the RNZAF’s own maintenance organisation at Ohakea. Working as a single unit alongside Air Force mechanics like Aviator Warren Bignoux, who carries out system checks and overhauls as part of his path toward becoming a licensed engineer, this joint Deeper Maintenance team performs the major 600 flight hour servicings that take approximately three months per airframe. Power, who trained on the type in Marignane in early 2011 and helped establish the initial deeper maintenance line in 2015 alongside Airbus specialists from Brisbane before transferring to Airbus himself in 2017, has seen the embedded workforce grow from four to ten personnel. This stable, long-tenured team provides continuity of knowledge that directly feeds training, repair development, procedure updates, and technical risk assessments. The tangible result of this integrated approach is remarkable availability. RNZAF NH90 fleet serviceability consistently runs at around 75 per cent, far surpassing the global operator average. Thanks to this outstanding standard of technical support, the Ohakea team locally performed a major fleet-wide software upgrade (Software Release 2) in record time. And as a result, New Zealand became the first country in the world to complete the upgrade across its entire fleet. For Power, maintaining the platform remains a deeply engaging mission. He shares that honestly, the thing he likes about the NH90 is the challenge of continuous improvement to keep the TNZA fleet as the exemplary model for NH90 operations. Even though he has been working on this type for 15 years, there is still something new almost every day and he is still learning. That passion is shared by Airbus avionics technician Alexandra “Allie” Thompson, who has spent two and a half years on the Airbus embedded team focusing on 600-plus hour checks for the NH90. Thompson explains that her role involves regular maintenance and repairs. “Because they’re an older aircraft and not brand new, there’s always going to be something fun to fix,” she says. She describes it as a very unique job from her perspective, pointing out that not often do you get to work on the mighty beast of an NH90 as a civilian person. Thompson also highlights the broader horizon that comes with the role, sharing that she really enjoys working for Airbus because being an international company, there are obviously international opportunities available and a wider network to be a part of, which opens up many doors for future possibilities. Through extreme weather, tactical missions, and long-range Pacific flights, New Zealand’s small fleet continues to demonstrate that high standards and close collaboration yield world-leading results. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Group Sales Director Simon Hadfield at [email protected]