Bristow Norway

Bristow Norway

IATA - ICAO NOR Callsign NORSKE
Founded	1993
Hubs	Stavanger Airport, Sola
Focus cities	Bergen Airport, Flesland Brønnøysund Airport, Brønnøy Hammerfest Airport
Fleet size	12
Destinations
Parent company	Bristow Group
Headquarters	Stavanger
Key people	René de Jong (CEO)
Website	www.norskhelikopter.no

Sikorsky S-92

Bristow Norway AS (formerly Norsk Helikopter) is a Norwegian helicopter company that transports crew to oil installations in the North Sea. It has headquarters in Stavanger and has additional operations out of Bergen, Brønnøysund, Hammerfest and the oil platform Heidrun. The company operates a fleet of 12 helicopters and has 197 employees.

The company has contract for crew flights with Statoil, Marathon Oil, BP, Talisman Energy, and ConocoPhillips. In addition it has one AWSAR (All Weather Search and Rescue) Eurocopter Super Puma helicopter stationed on the Statoil platform Heidrun.

History

The company started operations from the Norwegian oil capital Stavanger in 1993. The company was a joint venture between the Ugland shipping family (51%) and the Aberdeen based Bristow Group (49%), who operate helicopters to oil installations on the British sector of the North Sea. Bristow Group is partially owned by the American Offshore Logistics, and in total the three companies operate 420 helicopters.

The first new base was opened at Bergen Airport, Flesland in 1999. Later Norsk Helikopter opened bases at Brønnøysund Airport, Brønnøy (2002) and at Hammerfest Airport (2004). In 2001 it also opened a base on the oil platform Heidrun.

In March 2005 the company bought the helicopter operator Lufttransport and its Swedish subsidiary with the same name from Norwegian Air Shuttle. Lufttransport was previously a subsidiary of the main competitor CHC Helikopter Service.

In October 2008 Bristow Group announced the acquisition of the 51% share of Norsk Helikopter which it did not already own, in return for the divestment of Lufttransport to Knut Axel Ugland Holding.^[1] The company was renamed Bristow Norway AS in April 2009 and the company is in the process of rebranding its fleet with the Bristow logo.^[2]

Fleet

• 2 Eurocopter AS 332 L/L1 Super Puma
• 1 Eurocopter AS 332 L2 Super Puma 2
• 9 Sikorsky S-92A

From 2010

• 2 Eurocopter Super Puma / Eurocopter EC225

References

1. ^ "Norwegian helicopter turns British". Aftenbladet. 28 October 2008. http://www.aftenbladet.no/english/937745/Norwegian_helicopter_turns_British.html. Retrieved 2009-08-29. 
2. ^ "Norsk Helikopter AS changes name and company logo from April 1st 2009" (Press release). Bristow Norway. http://www.norskhelikopter.no/templates/page.aspx?id=833. Retrieved 2009-08-29.