If You Want to Be Like James Bond, You Might as Well Fly

Airbus and Aston Martin team up to launch the ACH130 Aston Martin Edition helicopter.

We all know Aston Martin and James Bond are synonymous with each other. It’s almost a requirement to wear a suit while driving one. But, as we all know in Los Angeles, being stuck in traffic is no fun even if you’re sitting in an Aston Martin. It’s nearly impossible to smolder like a tough-guy if you’re stuck on the 405 for three hours.

Allow an unimpeded method of transportation to take center stage: personal aircraft. See all that sky up there? No traffic. But you want to fly in style, much like 007 would, right? Introducing the ACH130; the brainchild of Aston Martin and Airbus’ collaboration.

Airbus Corporate Helicopters (ACH) and Aston Martin have worked closely together to design the ACH130 for over a year. There are four interior and exterior designs available on the helicopter generated by Aston Martin to make any luxury speed fanatic drool. The iconic Aston Martin wings are embossed onto interior leather features that are tastefully positioned around the cabin.

The exterior paint colors include Xenon Grey, Arizona, Ultramarine Black, and Stirling Green. The latter of these colors features a painted gradient, where the Green falls down into Jet Black on the underside of the aircraft, and adds Skyfall Silver around the cowlings.

On the interior, the automotive-inspired cabin is trimmed with Pure Black ultra-suede and is paired with a multitude of leather options, including Oxford Tan, Pure Black, Ivory and Cormorant. The interior of the ACH130 uses many of the same materials found on the inside of Aston Martin’s sports cars. These special edition ACH130’s will include a badge on the instrument panel that displays the partnership logos, the edition’s number and the name of the owner if desired.

Frédéric Lemos, Head of Airbus Corporate Helicopters, said: “The ACH130 Aston Martin Edition is optimally positioned in the market for hands-on owners who draw satisfaction from personally piloting their aircraft and it generates strong brand-loyalty. In the same way Aston Martin’s products are cars for drivers who relish being at the wheel and they inspire a comparable attachment to the brand. So they are the perfect partner for us in developing this superb new ACH130 Aston Martin Edition.”

Aston Martin Vice President and Chief Creative Officer, Marek Reichman, also commented: We have our own set of automotive design principles but in recent years we have been learning how to apply our principles to other areas of design, such as architecture, motorcycles and now helicopters. This first application of our design practices to a helicopter posed a number of interesting challenges but we have enjoyed working through them. Beauty is of vital importance to Aston Martin and to our customers and we think the ACH130 Aston Martin Edition is an inherently beautiful machine. It provided a wonderful canvas for our team to work on so we now look forward to seeing everybody’s reaction.”

The ACH130 Aston Martin Edition is available upon request, and deliveries start in early 2020.