CHC Helicopter orders 20 additional Eurocopter EC225s, expanding world’s largest fleet of Super Puma family helicopters

Marignane, France, Sept. 29, 2011

CHC Helicopter has ordered and will incorporate 20 more Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma twin-engine helicopters into its operations over the next several years, CHC and Eurocopter announced today.

 

Deliveries of the newly ordered EC225s – including an option for four additional aircraft beyond the initial 20 – will occur during the next four-plus years, into 2016. According to CHC, the helicopters will be needed to accommodate anticipated growth from both current and future customers. The aircraft are expected to be deployed to serve oil-and-gas customers in the U.K., Norway, Australia and Brazil.

 

"We are extremely optimistic about the future of this industry and CHC's place in it," said CHC President and Chief Executive Officer William Amelio. "The EC225 is an excellent aircraft for extending CHC's global reach, responsiveness and leadership in safety – qualities that enable us to provide great value to our customers."

 

Amelio added that the EC225 has a "well-deserved reputation for high reliability in the most demanding operational conditions."

 

CHC is the largest operator of Eurocopter's Super Puma family helicopters in the world, including the most extensive fleet with the EC225 version. By 2016, CHC could have as many as 50 EC225s in operation on behalf of its customers.

 

"The EC225's success story could not have been written without CHC, and it is an honor for Eurocopter to have CHC as the EC225's flagship operator throughout the world," said Lutz Bertling, Eurocopter's President and CEO. "We are especially proud of the long-term relationship and mutual confidence that has been built with our valued partner, and we look forward to further contributing to the success of CHC's operations with the newly-ordered EC225s."

 

Eurocopter's EC225 offers superior speed, range, payload, optimal safety and reliability. Deployed worldwide for civil and military search and rescue, as well as off-shore and passenger transport missions, it is the latest-generation member of the Super Puma/Cougar family, which has logged more than four million flight hours in operations around the globe.

 

The EC225 is perfectly adapted to missions in severe weather, as it is designed to meet the highest safety standard levels with system redundancy, a highly capable automatic flight control system, and the capability for full deicing – which allows flight in all known icing conditions.

When configured for offshore crew change operations in support of oil and gas producers, the EC225 can be rapidly converted for search and rescue operations.

 

About CHC

CHC Helicopter is the world's largest helicopter services company specializing in three main areas of operation: transportation to offshore oil and gas platforms; civilian search-and-rescue

services, and helicopter maintenance, repair and overhaul. The company is headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, and has a fleet of more than 250 aircraft and operates in about 30 countries around the world.

 

About Eurocopter

Established in 1992, the Franco-German-Spanish Eurocopter Group is a division of EADS, a world leader in aerospace, defense and related services. The Eurocopter Group employs approximately 17,500 people. In 2010, Eurocopter confirmed its position as the world's number one helicopter manufacturer in the civil and parapublic market with a turnover of 4.8 billion Euros, orders for 346 new helicopters and a 49 percent market share in the civil and parapublic sectors. Overall, the Group's helicopters account for 33 percent of the total worldwide civil and parapublic fleet. Eurocopter's strong worldwide presence is ensured by its 30 subsidiaries and participations on five continents, along with a dense network of distributors, certified agents and maintenance centers. There are currently 11,200 Eurocopter helicopters in service and some 2,900 customers in 147 countries. Eurocopter offers the largest civil and military helicopter range in the world.

 

Press Release