Nick, thanks for the range/payload info. By my calculations, a full offshore load of 19 passengers + bags + some freight will be able to be launched to a rig about 210 nautical miles out with home base as an alternate using North Sea reserves. This is a lot better than we have today.
Is there an option to increase fuel capacity without affecting the offshore seating layout? There are times with strong Northerly winds over the North Sea that we cannot get enough fuel in the tanks to make the East Shetland basin (and occasionally the new North Atlantic rim fields) direct. The S92 does have an extra 20 - 30 mins endurance over the Puma L/L2 but there will be the occasions when even this is not enough.
I know every pilot always wants an extra 1/2 hour whatever the total capacity is but in this case, it might make the difference between a flight going or not, particularly if the Shetland weather is not good. Obviously there is a cost/weight penalty with extra fuel capacity and even if there is an option available, it may not be worth the cost for the handful of times this happens per year.
By the way, what is the weight capacity in the baggage bay and how will the offshore variant be configured? Is the hydraulic ramp a feature on all models? The bigger the baggage bay the better.