The Royal Thai Police has received two H175s from Airbus Helicopters, making it the first in the Asia-Pacific region to operate the rotorcraft.

The Royal Thai Police will be using the aircraft, delivered in standard passenger transport configuration, for VVIP transportation and various police missions. The Royal Thai Police currently operates nine Airbus helicopters, comprising five H155, two AS365 N3+ and two H175.

The vast majority of H175s delivered to date — a total of “more than 15”, according to Airbus — are being used in offshore oil and gas operations, mostly in the North Sea.

Hong Kong’s Government Flying Services (GFS) is launch operator for the Public Services version of the machine. First deliveries to GFS, which has ordered seven H175s, were initially targeted for this year but have now slipped into 2018.