CHC Helicopter

CHC Helicopter

« We move the industry that moves the world. »
Type	Private
Industry	Transportation
Predecessor	Sealand Helicopters & Okanagan Helicopters
Founded	St. John's, Newfoundland (1987)
Founder(s)	Craig Dobbin
Headquarters	Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	William Amelio, CEO Rick Davis, CFO
Services	Helicopter services
Revenue	$1.34 billion US (2010)
Owner(s)	First Reserve
Employees	4,439 (2008)[1]
Subsidiaries	Heli-One
Website	www.chc.ca

CHC Helicopter is one of the world’s largest helicopter services company specializing in: Transportation to offshore oil and gas platforms; Civilian search and rescue services; Helicopter maintenance repair and overhaul

CHC Helicopter is headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada and operates more than 250 aircraft in 30 countries around the world. CHC's major international operating units are based in the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Australia.

CHC Helicopter is one of several global providers of helicopter transportation services to the offshore oil and gas industry (the others including Bristow Helicopters) and claims to be the most experienced helicopter operator in the world.^{[citation needed]} CHC has capabilities in precision flying techniques and technical support.

CHC has long-term working relationships with most of the major oil and gas companies. CHC operates the marine search and rescue service for the Irish Coast Guard at Shannon, Waterford, Sligo and Dublin airports and provides commercial Search and Rescue helicopter services for the United Kingdom Maritime and Coastguard Agency. CHC provides helicopter services in Australia for the Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia, the Victoria Police Force and Ambulance Service of New South Wales.

History

A Eurocopter Super Puma in Sealand Helicopters livery

A Sikorsky S-61 in Okanagan Helicopters livery

Commercial helicopter flying began in British Columbia in the summer of 1947. Three ex-RCAF officers, pilots Carl Agar and Barney Bent, and engineer Alf Stringer, were operating a fixed-wing charter company, Okanagan Air Services Ltd., from Penticton. In July 1947 they raised enough money to purchase a Bell 47-B3 and pay for their flying and maintenance training.

Okanagan Air Services moved to Vancouver in 1949, renamed Okanagan Helicopters Ltd. By 1954, had become the largest commercial helicopter operator in the world.^{[citation needed]}

In 1987, Newfoundland businessman Craig Dobbin headed a group (Canadian Holding Company) that purchased Okanagan Helicopters and Toronto Helicopters and merged them with his own company, Sealand Helicopters to form Canadian Helicopters. The new parent company was called CHC Helicopter Corporation. CHC acquired British International Helicopters in 1994; Helicopter Services Group of Norway in 1999 (included Bond Helicopters), Helikopter Service AS, Lloyd Helicopters of Australia and Court Helicopters of South Africa. In 2004, CHC purchased Schreiner Aviation Group who provided offshore helicopter services company in the Dutch sector of the North Sea, and in the Nigerian offshore industry.

In 2000, CHC entered into an agreement with Fonds de Solidarité FTQ (FSTQ) and the management of its two Canadian divisions, Canadian Helicopters Eastern and Canadian Helicopters Western, for the sale of an interest in CHC's Canadian assets in a Management Buyout to form Canadian Helicopters. As a result senior Management and FSTQ acquired 10% and 45% equity interests in Canadian Helicopters, respectively, while CHC retained a 45% equity interest.

CHC restructuring in 2004 saw the creation of a new Corporate Head Office in Richmond, B.C., Canada, and the creation of three main operating segments:

• CHC Global Operations, based in Richmond, B.C.,
• CHC European Operations, based in Aberdeen, Scotland, and
• Heli-One, CHC's leasing and Repair and Overhaul support group, now based in Delta, B.C.

CHC was purchased by First Reserve, a US private equity company in February 2008 for CAD$3.7 billion ($3.5 billion). At the time, the word "Corporation" was dropped from the company's name, which is now "CHC Helicopter".

Divisions

CHC Bell 206

CHC manages its global operations through the following divisions:

• EEA Helicopter Operations B.V. ("EEA"), a Dutch company majority owned by EHO Holdings S.a.r.l. and minority owned by CHC Helicopter S.a.r.l., provides helicopter services in the North Sea. EEA operates under the CHC brand name and uses CHC logo under license. It provides services from 17 bases in the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands.^[2]
• Brazilian Helicopter Services (BHS) (Brazil)
• CHC Helicopters Global Operations/Corporate Office (Richmond, British Columbia)
• CHC Helicopters (Australia)
• CHC Helicopters (Africa)
• CHC Composites (Gander, Newfoundland)

CHC EMS and SAR services

Ireland

CHC S-61 operated for the Irish Coast Guard

• Irish Coast Guard - CHC serves as the sole provider of Search and Rescue helicopter services to the Irish Coast Guard, where it operates a fleet of six Sikorsky S-61N helicopters based in Dublin, Shannon, Waterford, and Sligo.

United Kingdom

• CHC, as part of the Soteria SAR consortium was selected as the Preferred Bidder for the 25-year SAR-H contract to provide a civilian Search and Rescue service throughout the United Kingdom.^[3] However, days before the contract was due to be signed in February 2011, the UK Government halted the process after Soteria admitted that a former Royal Air Force officer who now worked for CHC Helicopter had passed commercially sensitive information on how the Ministry of Defence would commercially assess the bids. MoD Police are now investigating how the information came into the hands of CHC and Sorteria.^[4]

Australia

CHC is the largest provider of emergency medical helicopter services in Australia.^{[citation needed]}

Military

• Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) - CHC has been providing dedicated rescue support to the RAAF since 1989, where it operates a mixed fleet of Sikorsky S76 and Bell helicopters.

Police

• Victoria Police Air Wing and Air Ambulance Services - CHC provides three Eurocopter SA365N3 Dauphin and one Eurocopter EC135 aircraft, plus maintenance services, to the Victoria Police.

Ambulance

Snowy Hydro SouthCare Multi-purpose helicopter in Australia

• Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia - Based in Perth, WA, CHC provides a Bell 412 EP aircraft.
• Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) of Victoria - CHC provides two Bell 412EP helicopters for Air Ambulance and Search and Rescue duties.
• Ambulance Service of New South Wales - CHC provides a Bell 412 EP for the area around Wollongong, NSW^[5]
• Central Queensland Helicopter Rescue Service [1] - CHC provides a Bell 412, an SA365C1 and a Bell 206 LongRanger for EMS helicopter services.
• Snowy Hydro SouthCare Air Ambulance Service [2] - CHC operates a Bell 412 for emergency helicopter service, based in Symonston, Australian Capital Territory.

Norway

• Norwegian Search and Rescue - CHC provides private Search and Rescue services in the Norwegian North Sea but acts in concert with government SAR operations. The CHC SAR fleet includes three offshore-based Dauphin AS 365N2s, along with a Bell 214 ST at Statoil’s Statfjord field, which can be converted from inter-rig shuttle role to SAR duty role within 15 minutes. Several of the Super Pumas in CHC’s Norwegian fleet are prepared for the same quick change to SAR configuration.

Other related services

• NH90 - CHC is designing, manufacturing and installing 19 life-raft assembly kits for the NH90

helicopter, a new military search and rescue helicopter provided to France, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands through a joint venture shared by Agusta, Eurocopter and Fokker.

• Supply, rescue, and support Services.

CHC provides extensive ship supply and rescue service off the coast of Africa and the Netherlands, and helicopter support services to scientific expeditions in Antarctica and other harsh environments.

Fleet

CHC operates approximately 250 aircraft in Canada and 29 other countries which include Malaysia, Australia, Brazil, Thailand, the Philippines, the Middle East, South Africa, Ecuador, Angola, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea.^[6]

Helicopters

• AgustaWestland AW139
• Eurocopter AS365 N1,N2,N3 Dauphin
• Eurocopter Super Puma AS332, L1, L2
• Eurocopter EC155
• Eurocopter EC225
• Sikorsky S76 A,B and C Series
• Sikorsky S-61
• Sikorsky S92

Fixed Wing

CHC provide a range fixed-wing transportation services for crew transport to helicopter bases around the world. CHC operates both jet and turbo prop aircraft including Dash-8 and Twin Otter service to meet the needs of the global oil and gas industry.

• 1 - de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
• 1 - de Havilland Canada DHC-8

Gallery

• 

  Bell 212

• 

  Sikorksy S-92

• 

  Bell 412

• 

  Bell 206L

• 

  AgustaWestland AW139

• 

  Sikorsky S-61

• 

  Eurocopter AS350

• 

  Bell 206

Locations

 Australia

• Adelaide • Perth • Victoria • Wayville • Sydney • Wollongong • Orange

 Bangladesh

 Brazil

 Canada

Alberta

• Edmonton • Fort McMurray • Grande Prairie • High Level • Lac La Biche

British Columbia

• Fort Nelson • Fort St. John • Golden • Kamloops • Penticton • Smithers • Terrace • Vernon • Richmond

Manitoba

• Southport

Newfoundland & Labrador

• Gander

Nova Scotia

• Halifax (Location To Be Sold)

 Denmark

• Esbjerg

 India

 Indonesia

 Ireland

• Cork • Dublin • Shannon • Waterford • Sligo

 Malaysia

 Norway

• Stavanger • Bergen • Florø • Kristiansund • Brønnøysund

 Netherlands

• Den Helder

 Philippines

 Thailand

 United Kingdom

• Aberdeen • Yarmouth

See also

• Canadian Helicopters

References

1. ^ "Company Profile for CHC Helicopter Corp (FLI)". http://zenobank.com/index.php?symbol=FLI&page=quotesearch. Retrieved 2008-10-08. 
2. ^ http://www.chc.ca/corporate_aboutchc.php
3. ^ "Press Release". Soteria SAR. 9 Feb 2010. http://www.soteriasar.com/news-article/mod-and-mcadft-selects-soteria-for-sar-h-programme. Retrieved 6 April 2010. 
4. ^ "Search and rescue helicopter bid process is halted". BBC News. 8 February 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12389512. Retrieved 8 February 2011. 
5. ^ Ambulance_Service_of_New_South_Wales#Helicopter_operations
6. ^ The fleet

External links

• CHC Helicopter
• CHC Helicopter History
• Canadian Helicopters