Well, now all the big women and men of CHC have departed, some of the new changes are being put in place and the first of these is the arrival of the new operations manager from Canada. It also seems that they’ll be building a brand new staff complex with excellent facilities and getting more new helicopters. They also need to look at lots more things if they want to keep people. Their company buses look like Tokunbos along the Aba road as they take the expats to work – whilst the managers ride serenely solo in their company cars.
Bristow/Pan African are also getting more new helicopters, but a lot of their housing is looking pretty dated now and the BRC in Lagos can’t be spruced up just with a coat of paint. It’s still in a lousy area and has pathetic facilities in terms of communication for its staff. Escravos must still be the worst place to be based in Nigeria. They have a lot of new aircraft coming too – but not before time with their ancient 206s, 212s and some of the original 412s which are increasingly difficult to keep in the air.
Heliportugal seem to be doing their best to take over Caverton and plan to send out more elderly, but superficially pretty Eurocopter products ready for their much-delayed Lagos shuttle and charter operations. Meanwhile, I hear that they still don’t even have a tractor at their Lagos base and the helicopters are all pushed in and out by hand – looks as if the gloss is only for outside eyes. Heliportugal are frustrated that they can’t get something really going in Sao Tome for a while and are desperate to break into the African market. A take-over or merger with Caverton would give them a foothold.