Bell Helicopter has signed a deal for the sale of eight of its 407GXP singles to Caverton Helicopters Limited, a subsidiary of Caverton Offshore Support Group. Delivery of the aircraft is scheduled to begin later this year. Caverton also enrolled the new 407s in Bell's Customer Advantage Plan support program.
The group operates in the marine and aviation logistics sectors for the oil-and-gas industry and employs more than 700 in Nigeria. Caverton Helicopters operates out of a 107,600-sq-ft/10,000-sq-m flight facility at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos and several purpose-built facilities in Victoria Island, Port Harcourt, Warri and Cameroon.
The Bell 407GXP was launched in 2015 and, compared with the original model, features an additional 50 pounds of payload capability; a new M250 Rolls-Royce engine that improves performance and fuel efficiency and hot and high performance; new avionics features such as hover performance calculator improvement; and a transmission TBO extension of 500 hours. More than 1,400 Bell 407s are in service worldwide. During the first half of this year, Bell delivered 15 Model 407GXPs, according to data released by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.