Deliveries of the Airbus Helicopters EC135 T3/P3, an upgraded variant of the EC135 light twin, will begin in the fourth quarter of this year, instead of early 2014 asannounced last year,according to an Airbus Helicopters spokesperson.

The new helicopter offers several improvements over the current EC135 T2i/P2i, yielding a 66-pound increase in mtow and improved hot/high performance–an additional 440 pounds of payload at about 5,000 feet, ISA+20.

The “P” versions are powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Canada PW206B2 turboshafts, while the “T” versions have two Turbomeca Arrius 2B2 engines.