Offshore helicopter specialist CHC Helicopter will expand its fleet with five new aircraft to be leased from GECAS’ Milestone Aviation Group Limited.
This transaction will add three new Leonardo AW189s and two Airbus H175s from Milestone’s order book with the manufacturers to CHC’s global fleet.
According to CHC, 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 Karl Fessenden, President and CEO of CHC Helicopter.
“Milestone has been a valuable leasing partner towards this goal, with a diverse order book across manufacturers and types, and deep expertise in aircraft operational capabilities.”Fessenden added
“Since completing our restructuring in March, our fleet productivity has significantly improved and matches our historical peak levels before the oil and gas downturn. We are excited to add these new super medium aircraft to our fleet in support of new customer contracts.””We are very proud to introduce the Leonardo AW189 and Airbus H175 types to CHC’s fleet,” remarked Daniel Rosenthal , President and CEO of Milestone.
CHC said the AW189 and the Airbus H175 helicopters were designed to meet long-range, high endurance requirements in demanding environments, which will allow CHC to use them for missions that have either been traditionally limited to heavy aircraft or access platforms that are not designed to support them.
“This will not only give customers additional flexibility, but also help them lower their overall costs per passenger,” CHC said.