I hear Caverton's Twinned OOtter was grounded last week - brown envelope obviously not thick enough
. Is it flying again yet?
Both CHC and Bristow are talking about the EC225s and S92s which are soon coming in - I wonder who'll fly them? CHC is having enough difficulty crewing the 2 ex-Kish (Iran) Dauphin N2s which finally arrived last week. At least CHC are willing to get new, or fairly new helicopters, as a speculative venture and they can be assured of plenty of work for them. For passengers arriving in Port Harcourt the difference between the 2 companies is notable - CHC has a large hangar full of ground equipment and many engineers busy at work, with a huge new hangar and offices under construction. Bristow has a small hangar full of dust with a couple of engineers waiting for their ancient 76A++s and looking out onto a ramp area which is made less usable by a fuel installation in the middle of it and a muddy car park with a couple of Portakabins in it. Outside Lagos, all of Bristows other bases are owned by their client oil companies, whilst CHC also owns Warri airstrip and uses only one client base, that of Agip. It makes one wonder if Bristow is serious about staying in Nigeria? Maybe the Chevron deepwater contract will be the make-or-break for them. Rumour has it that the contract is actually likely to be split betwen the 2 companies. With most of the major oil companies planning large deepwater projects over the next 5 years there should be more than enough work for those with the staying power and the willingness to invest in large expensive new helicopters. Both companies pay good salaries, but whether they are enough to keep staff here remains to be seen as more older pilots are due to retire in the next 5 years and it's difficult to persuade younger pilots with the required experience to come to Nigeria. With their latest pay review Bristow has probably done just enough to stop any of their pilots joining CHC and not enough to recruit any more to cross over from CHC. The big disappointment is that they did nothing to redress the big difference in pay for those on 8/4 and those on 6/6 (those on 8/4 work 33% more but only get paid 20% more) and it's likely that more of their pilots will ask to go 6/6 over the next few months - which will mean they'll require more pilots or be paying out a lot more in workover pay. CHC pilots seem to be close to resolving their differences with Vancouver over whether they work 42/42 or 44/40. It will be a benefit to both sides as the pilots will be apid what they should and the management will lose less to Bristow or leaving altogether.
CHC pilots can also now enjoy a Gin and Tonic in something other than a gay bar - at least in Areta, it may be squalid, but there is a bit of social life and the new VSAT internet should improve morale.
Any comment from NEO?