ANALYSIS: How Ireland’s Helicopter leasing sector came to the rescue during European wildfire season

The intensification of wildfire activity across southern and central Europe during the 2025 and 2026 seasons has forced governments and civil protection agencies to confront structural shortfalls in dedicated aerial firefighting fleets.

Ownership of specialised helicopters remains limited by high capital costs, long procurement lead times and competing demands on military and public safety aviation resources. In this context helicopter leasing has provided a practical mechanism for rapid capacity expansion, enabling countries to deploy heavy-lift and medium-lift rotorcraft equipped for water drops and crew transport without the delays inherent in permanent acquisition programmes.

Examples from four countries

Cyprus offers a clear illustration of this approach. In March 2026 the Ministry of Defence confirmed an agreement with the Slovakian operator HELI COMPANY for the seasonal lease of four Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters configured for aerial firefighting. The contract runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 October 2026 with provision for a further thirty-day extension if required by operational conditions.

These aircraft strengthen national capability in a region where terrain and climate combine to produce frequent and fast-moving fires. The leased Black Hawks supplement existing resources and form part of a broader European trend in which refurbished military surplus machines are adapted for civil emergency roles.

Similar patterns appear elsewhere. The Czech Republic-based Helicopter Alliance has identified demand for between twenty and forty refurbished Black Hawks across Europe by 2030 for firefighting and disaster relief.

France’s SAF Aerogroup signed for four examples plus six options with deliveries scheduled from the end of 2026. These machines will operate under European contracts while remaining linked to South African subsidiary arrangements. Skyrise Leasing, through its operational arm SkyConnect Leasing, secured twelve UH-60s for delivery in 2026 and 2027.

Governments in Austria, Portugal, Slovakia and Ukraine have also taken delivery of refurbished examples, demonstrating that leasing and purchase of second-hand platforms together address immediate shortages while longer-term production of purpose-built aircraft continues.

RescEU Standby fleet

The European Union’s rescEU reserve has further institutionalised the use of shared and leased rotary assets. Five helicopters form part of the 2026 standby fleet stationed across member states including Czechia, Slovakia and Romania.

When Serbia activated the Union Civil Protection Mechanism in August 2026, four Black Hawk firefighting helicopters drawn from Romanian, Slovak and Czech contingents arrived to support operations in the Deliblatska Sands nature reserve. Two of these machines entered service on the first day of assistance while the remaining pair followed within twenty-four hours.

Parallel deployments supported Belgium during the High Fens fire in August 2026, where Norwegian, German and Dutch helicopters joined national assets, and a Czech UH-60 contributed earlier in the operation. These coordinated movements show how leasing arrangements and pre-positioned reserves allow capacity to shift rapidly between jurisdictions.

The advantage of leasing

Cost considerations reinforce the attractiveness of leasing. Spanish government contracts for private aerial firefighting services, covering both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, total approximately €52m annually under multi-year frameworks running through 2025, 2026 and 2027. Daily availability charges for individual platforms range from €3,000 to €5,000 depending on type and operator, while hourly flight costs start at €600 for lighter machines and reach €2,000 or higher for heavy water-dropping helicopters.

One semi-heavy bomber configuration has been recorded at €7,933 per day of availability and €2,881 per flight hour. Such figures remain substantially lower than the capital outlay required to purchase and maintain equivalent new aircraft, particularly when utilisation is concentrated in the peak months from spring through autumn. Longer contracts reduce the effective monthly rate by spreading fixed costs, making seasonal leases of four to six months economically rational for many national budgets.

The five largest helicopter leasing firms are all based in Ireland.

Milestone Aviation Group (a subsidiary of AerCap) is the largest helicopter leasing firm in Europe and globally, managing a portfolio of over 300 helicopters
LCI (L Aviation) based in Dublin, has a modern fleet of ~100–150 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft.
GDHF, Europe based in Dujblin. beings a focus on new-technology multi-mission types like Airbus H160, expanded via the NHV Group acquisition.
SMFL Helicopters, based in Dublin, is an active international lessor backed by major Japanese financial institutions.
Waypoint Leasing, based in Limerick, specialises in twin-engine medium and heavy helicopter lessor serving energy and rescue sectors.

When Greek meets Greek

Greece has pursued a mixed strategy that combines ownership with operator support. In 2025 the Hellenic Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection confirmed a contract with Airbus Helicopters for eight H215 machines under a government-owned contractor-operated model. Partnerships with experienced operators Airtelis and SAF Hélicoptères cover technical and flight support.

An additional investment of €155m secured twenty-five Air Tractor AT-802 firefighting aircraft, some of which had previously been leased during peak seasons. The transition from lease to ownership for fixed-wing assets illustrates the continuum along which states move as budgets and industrial capacity permit. Helicopters, with their higher unit costs and specialised mission equipment, remain more readily available through leasing markets in the interim.

Portugal’s solution

Portugal’s experience in 2026 further demonstrates private-sector agility. Avincis, Europe’s largest emergency aerial service operator, confirmed a lease of two Canadair CL-215T Super Scoopers from the United States firm Bridger Aerospace.

Although fixed-wing rather than rotary, the arrangement parallels helicopter leasing practices and responded to the demanding start of the season, when around fifty municipalities faced maximum wildfire risk.

Avincis crews in Spain and Portugal logged more than five thousand firefighting flight hours in the early months of 2026, more than double the equivalent period of the previous year. The company operates a global fleet that includes 180 helicopters, many of which are deployed under seasonal or surge contracts across southern Europe.

1,000-gallon tanks

Operational advantages of leased helicopters extend beyond pure water-dropping capacity. Medium and heavy types such as the UH-60 and H215 can transport firefighting teams, equipment and medical personnel into remote or inaccessible terrain. Belly tanks or external buckets allow repeated drops once water sources are identified, while night-vision capability on certain Firehawk configurations extends the effective working day.

The Sikorsky S-70 Firehawk, ordered by Czech authorities for the rescEU programme, carries a 1,000-gallon tank with retractable snorkel and is expected to enter service in Europe as the first of its type outside the United States. Two such aircraft, with an option for a third, will be based in the Czech Republic and available for continental tasking.

Regulatory and logistical frictions nonetheless constrain the full potential of cross-border leasing. Pilot licensing differences between military and civil regimes, together with certification requirements for modified surplus aircraft, can delay deployment. Sanctions-related grounding of certain Russian-origin Ka-32 helicopters in Spain has removed high-capacity platforms from service since the withdrawal of European certificates, increasing reliance on Western types available through leasing channels.

Longer fire seasons

Operators report that longer fire seasons stretching from March or April into October place continuous pressure on both airframes and experienced crews. Recruitment of pilots qualified for low-level firefighting remains difficult, prompting calls for streamlined recognition of military experience within civil aviation frameworks.

The analytical case for continued reliance on helicopter leasing rests on the mismatch between the pace of climate-driven fire risk and the timelines of industrial production. New Canadair 515 amphibious aircraft ordered under rescEU will not reach initial operators until 2028, with full delivery extending to 2030.

Purpose-built heavy helicopters face similar multi-year cycles. Leasing bridges this interval by drawing on existing global inventories of military surplus and civil utility machines that can be rapidly adapted with buckets, tanks and avionics. Companies specialising in refurbishment and conversion, such as Helicopter Alliance and United Rotorcraft, have positioned themselves to meet this demand, converting UH-60 airframes into Firehawk configurations and placing them under lease or purchase contracts across the Mediterranean and central Europe.

Record 2.2m hectares burned in 2005

Data from recent seasons confirm the scale of the challenge. In 2025, wildfires burned more than 1m hectares in Europe and 2.2m hectares when the Middle East and North Africa are included, marking the European Union’s worst fire year on record in terms of area affected. The total area is larger than Connacht and a little smaller than Munster, The 2026 wildfires were less devastating at 634,022 hectares, still the size of county Galway.

Greece recorded nearly 49,000 hectares burned despite comparatively moderated losses relative to previous peaks. Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium and Serbia all activated mutual assistance mechanisms at various points in 2026. In each case leased or shared helicopters contributed measurable capacity that would otherwise have been unavailable within national inventories alone.

Looking ahead, the combination of seasonal leasing, multi-year framework contracts and shared European reserves is likely to remain central to aerial firefighting strategy through the remainder of the decade. States will continue to evaluate the balance between ownership and access, weighing capital expenditure against the flexibility of commercial arrangements.

Operators will expand conversion pipelines for Black Hawks and similar types while refining models that bundle aircraft, crews, maintenance and logistics into single seasonal packages. Civil protection authorities will refine pre-positioning and activation protocols so that leased assets move with minimal friction when fires escalate.

The practical success of these arrangements during the demanding seasons of 2025 and 2026 has already demonstrated that helicopter leasing constitutes an essential component of Europe’s adaptive response to increasing wildfire pressure.