Offshore helicopter operators Bristow and Era, expecting to close their planned merger by mid-June, this week detailed plans for a combined senior management team featuring Era CEO Chris Bradshaw as the leader of the merged company that will be known as Bristow.
Other announced senior managers include David Stepanek, executive vice president and COO. He previously served as Era’s senior v-p of business development and was PHI’s president of the Americas. Alan Corbett, Bristow’s senior v-p for Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and search and rescue, will continue in that position. Corbett joined Bristow from energy services company Baker Hughes in 2015.
When the two companies announced their merger in January, before the full impact of the Covid-19 crisis, they predicted annual revenues of $1.5 billion, $35 million in cost savings due to various synergies, and a combined fleet of 300 aircraft. Since then the price of oil has plummeted from $64 to $25 per barrel, triggering mass layoffs in the offshore industry and up to a 50 percent reduction in drilling activity. In April, Baker Hughes reported that the international offshore active rig count had dropped by nearly 10 percent year over year, with most of that attrition occurring in March.