SANAE1249,
I guess you're talking about the Cargo Pods for the EC130-B4.
This option has been developped and approved by Eurocopter Canada. It's currently STC in Canada (SH03-33) and in the US (SR2016NY).
There is no performance penalty (rate of climb, cruise, hover). It's compatible with the LH sliding door and the increase of volume is 0.12 cubic meter (approx). TOTAL is now 0.245 + 0.12 = 0.365 cubic meter.
The big advantage is that the cargo compartment becomes more or less a cube. So you can carry bulky luggage. For info you can take the 2 forward seats and put them in one cargo pod. It fits !
Mr Selfish
You\'re right for the AS350 Cargo Pods (not compatible with sliding door). However the EC130 Cargo Pods are.