Savback Helicopters expands into advanced aviation

Swedish Savback Helicopters is opening up its inventory to welcome in the new era of advanced aircraft - Dufour Aerospace Aero2. Savback has been supporting Swiss uncrewed aircraft and eVTOL developer since 2022, committing to being Dufour’s distributor in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland after its aircraft is ready for the market. The company is now looking at the advanced air mobility market, particularly seeing potential in hybrid-electric technology. 

Michael Savback, Founder of Savback Helicopters, commented: “So stay with what we have done, but add in and focus on the next-generation approach because we believe that’s a growing market.We choose partners that are in good contact with the [aviation] authorities, so the rules and regulations are following the product. There’s so many manufacturers today that start to do things and then they ask the authorities when they’re ready to fly, and the answer [from the authorities] is no.”

Dufour Aerospace Chief Commercial Officer Sascha Hardegger said: "Our eVTOLs are mainly geared toward two fields of application:One is critical cargo — the whole field of critical cargo application over longer distances — or what is called middle mile applications.The second is high-resolution remote sensing, and various surveillance and mapping applications." 

Dufour Aero2 is slated to enter commercial markets in 2025 in medium-risk applications — over sparsely populated areas. Dufour is also working toward getting the aircraft approved with EASA to fly over densely populated areas. The uncrewed tilt-wing aircraft is designed to carry payloads of 40 kilograms (88 pounds) for a distance of 400 kilometers (250 miles) in its standard configuration and 20 kg (44 lb) for 1,000 km (620 mi) in its long-range configuration.

Aero2 has secured interest in the medical transport sector, with first contracts in place and one pre-production prototype having been delivered to a U.S. customer in 2023. Savback assisted Dufour in landing an agreement with European Medical Drone, the Swedish drone operator that connects hospitals through drone transportation. European Medical Drone is also interested in the Aero2. 

Dufour Aero3 is a larger uncrewed or piloted hybrid-electric aircraft. With a range of 1,020 kilometers (630 miles), and useful load of 750 kg (1,650 lb), the aircraft is slated for several missions, including emergency medical services through interest from numerous helicopter operators like Swiss Air-Rescue Rega. Dufour Aerospace is conscious that the development and certification of new aircraft requires a lot of resources. The company is therefore currently focusing on the smaller uncrewed Aero2, also with a view to market maturity.

Besides Dufour, Savback also has its sights set on being the distributor for Mayman Aerospace’s AI-powered Speeder P100 UAVs, used for military, critical cargo, and disaster response missions. The partnership stems back to 2022, but the two recently strengthened ties earlier this year when Savback signed a letter of intent to buy 300 of the jet-powered VTOL.  The P100 model has an expected payload of 45 kg (100 lb), and Savback is expecting deliveries to come in between late 2025 to mid-2027.