Bristow Helicopters IBU. RIP

[nellynewbie]

Well, it's just be announced that IBU (Eastern hemisphere) is moving from its current location at Redhill and it's now going to be run from Houston. (although the 2 employees who currently keep IBU functioning will be losing their jobs).

It may save a few dollars in the short term but will almost guarantee that contracts in Africa will be a thing of the past.

[alouette]

The beancounter grinder in full motion again, eh?:E "We will run matters from our desk without the inconvenience of leaving the office"... Good luck, and God bless.

[scottishterrier]

I somehow think that if those two previously mentioned employees were so invaluable they would be relocated with all the other important folks. The errors and chaos has sadly caught up with Redhill folks

[nellynewbie]

If you think there were problems with Redhill organising travel, Visas, medicals, payroll, expenses etc, wait until you've tried to get these organised by the people in Houston.

Apart from trying to deal with a base that has a 6 or 7 hour time difference, you will find that your requests for travel will be totally ignored at first then sorted out at the last minute with you getting tickets and routings that will be totally different to those asked for.

[terminus mos]

Plenty of international contracts are run from the USA. Having an office in Redhill obviously added no value for Bristow. Aberdeen and Australia run themselves and the rest of the world can be run from Houston. End of an era though.

[nellynewbie]

Plenty of international contracts are run from the USA.

Only the ones in South America and the Carribbean, and these are run from the USA as that is where the expat staff working on these contracts are generally based.

How is Houston going to do a good job of organising the setup and running of a contract in a country such as Libya, Ghana, Equatorial Guinnea etc when just about all of the people who will be working there are European based?
They will all need Visas which will now mean sending passports half way around the world.
There is also the matter of the time difference between the operating bases and Houston.


Having an office in Redhill obviously added no value for Bristow

The Redhill base isn't closing down though, just the IBU office.
All that is happening is that 2 staff are being made redundant, 1 is moving to Houston and 1 has been found another position at Redhill, so all that is being saved is the salary of 2 people.

I'm sure that there will be a very small short term saving, but in the long run it will end up costing contracts and megabucks.

[SASless]

Redundant....both staying with the company....one in Redhill...one to Houston?

So I reckon the Houston bound bloke or blokess gets struck incompetent upon arrival in Houston then?

With UPS/FEDEX/DHL.....overnight mail works fine.....just as it does in the UK I would assume. The internet and computers work the same in Houston just as it does in the UK or am I mistaken?

Face it.....the company headquarters is in Houston....not Redhill!

My experience with Travel was the girls down the hall at Redhill were simply cracker jack....great fun....and very efficient. The problems with travel ( note the small "t") was when the folks at the local scene controlled things....and were all getting back handers and special perks by manipulating your tickets....unlike Redhill that was very professional and business like.

[nellynewbie]

Redundant....both staying with the company....one in Redhill...one to Houston?

Two being made redundant (LB and MB. These are the 2 that organise travel, visas etc).
One staying in Redhill. (YS)
One moving back to Houston. (TD)


So I reckon the Houston bound bloke or blokess gets struck incompetent upon arrival in Houston then?

No, but he isn't involved in ticketing, visas, medicals, licence queries etc.

Face it.....the company headquarters is in Houston....not Redhill!

Even though the company headquaters in in Houston, there is no reason why offshoots of the company must be based there,
After all, the head office for WASBU is in Lagos, the Head office for Bristow Eastern Hemisphere is Redhill etc.

When you consider that when it comes to Bristow IBU, (Eastern hemisphere):
just about all of the employees live in Europe (and those that don't, live even further away from the USA),
All of the engineering staff are CAA EASA licenced,
Most of the aircrew are EASA licenced.
Most, if not all of the aircrew and engineers are actually employeed by BIAGL (head office in Guernsey).

If the Redhill base was closing down then I could see the reason for the change, but this isn't happening.
All that the move will do is to free up a couple of offices in a huge block and initially save the salary of 2 staff.

[419]

Bristow Helicopters IBU. RIP

Bristow Helicopters actually died a fair while ago.
The correct name for the company is now "The Bristow group"

[Shell Management]

Redhill had some value while Bristow still did business with Shell. They almost closed the site when Shell Aircraft moved from Cardinal Point to Rotterdam, but they were made to see sense (AMS-LGW is a short hop);)

Now with Shell looking elsewhere for contractors, no doubt Bristow will do the decent thing and pprune unecessary costs.

[nellynewbie]

The thing is though, Bristow are not pulling out of Redhill Aerodrome. It's only IBU that are moving.
There will still be a large Bristow presence there as they are keeping all of the offices and carparking that they have now.

[Shell Management]

Phew, no TUPE issues for the car park then:)

[MamaPut]

Maybe now, the West African Strategic Business Unit will be allowed to be that, rather than having contracts in neighbouring countries inefficiently run and supported fro thousands of miles away?

Burman was replaced by Akell some months ago.

How is Houston going to do a good job of organising the setup and running of a contract in a country such as Libya, Ghana, Equatorial Guinnea etc when just about all of the people who will be working there are European based?
They will all need Visas which will now mean sending passports half way around the world.

Hm, let's see - Libya, finished; Ghana, finished; Equatorial Guinea a one aircraft operation that's a short hop from Nigeria. As for your comment on visas - what on earth are you on about? A visa is initially applied for in a person's country of residence and renewed in the country where they are working. Bristow seems to have little problem organising more than 300 staff employed by BIAGL in Nigeria.

[Phone Wind]

Tourism visas maybe, but for most, if not all employment visas, the application needs to be put in by the company that the person is employed by.

No it doesn't. A visa application whether for business or pleasure has to be put in by an individual, and if it is for employment it is accompanied by supporting paperwork from the employing company. Bristow in Nigeria employs the services for KPMG as immigration specialists and I think that with their international connections and offices they're more than competent to handle other countries through their associations.

Akin Oni, the MD of WASBU has also run EBU and I have no doubt that he would be more than capable of getting the right people to set up and run operations in any other country in West Africa. Redhill has been a white elephant which has added to the company overheads for years, since Alan Bristow sold out and the Americans took over. There have been good arguments for making Aberdeen the main HQ for operations in the Eastern hemisphere and with a small office, minimally staffed in London or South East England. Let's face it BIAGL manages to deal with all the international staff from Guernsey with a staff of just 2. The internet, Skype and conference calls make communications so easy and senior staff can always conference at a convenient time for all if call timings are carefully chosen.

[nellynewbie]

Hm, let's see - Libya, finished; Ghana, finished
But there is a possibility that Bristows will be going back to Libya as BP have very recently started up their exploration again.
As to the other contracts finishing. I agree that this is the case, but that is why I specifically referred to the logistical problems with setting up and running contracts should IBU ever get any new ones.


A visa is initially applied for in a person's country of residence and renewed in the country where they are working
Tourism visas maybe, but for most, if not all employment visas, the application needs to be put in by the company that the person is employed by.

Bristow seems to have little problem organising more than 300 staff employed by BIAGL in Nigeria.
Maybe because those 300 people are all working in one country.
I wonder how the admin staff in Lagos would cope if they had to deal with visa applications for many different countries and for people employed and resident in many locations and who never actually went anywhere near Nigeria.


I may well be totally wrong and the staff at Houston may well do an extremely good job with regards getting and running new contracts and orgainising travel and visas.
If they do, I will be the first to come back on here and admit that my worries were misplaced.

[Bespoke]

IBU needed a good kick up the arse.

The incompetence has really been seen in recent times, from badly handled travel to the loss of contract due to stupid decision making. Not to mention the old pal network in management and the treatment of employee issues. Denied payment for overtime/work over etc etc.

Get rooted.

F' em all

[L5230B]

dont take it out on the admin staff

[SASless]

Once the Army took over it went straight down hill didn't it?

[Phone Wind]

In a difficult business climate SH and the rest of the new COIBU team are struggling in a difficult business climate, a lot of competition and uncertainty as to the direction the revised top management team of Bristow is going. Too many of the people at the top keep changing (except for Bill Chiles) and there's uncertainty as to what other changes are in the wind. All of this speaks of poor leadership from the highest levels of the company, continuing poor communication between the highest and lowest levels and a lack of clear direction and future intentions to the lowest levels globally. The departure of Burman seemed a good thing, JA already seems to be making a difference for the better, but nobody understands the power plays which have ed to the departure of RS or MJM. All the employees really want to know is; what's really happening, who's really running the company now? Where are we going?

[cyclicoyibo]

Bespoke,

Perhaps you should take your prejudices to a forum where your juvenile utterings would be more appreciated. I believe Montesori have a web site!

Nellynewbie,

I suspect that the admin staff would cope very. very well with the complexities of arranging visas throughout the region. I don't know what your experience of West Africa is, but, if you can deal with the authorities in Nigeria, everywhere else is a doddle!

Cyclic