CHC Helicopter launched its super-medium helicopter program yesterday with a commitment to lease five new aircraft from GECAS’s Milestone Aviation Group. Under the deal, CHC will add three new Leonardo AW189s and two Airbus Helicopters H175s from Milestone’s order book. The new helicopters will be configured for energy transport missions and will serve CHC customers in the North Sea and Australia.
“We are working closely with Milestone to carefully build a productive, safe and reliable fleet to meet the varying needs of our customers throughout the world,” said CHC Helicopter president and CEO Karl Fessenden. “Since completing our restructuring in March, our fleet productivity has significantly improved and matches our historical peak levels before the oil-and-gas downturn.”
Both the Leonardo AW189 and the Airbus H175 are designed to meet long-range, high-endurance requirements, which CHC said will allow it to use the helicopters for missions that have either been traditionally limited to heavy aircraft or access platforms that are not designed to support the heavier types.