Largest helicopter operators

[Chris Pochari]

List of largest Helicopter operators:
#1 CHC, Richmond, BC. Founded in 1987 By Craig L. Dobbins.
Gross revenue 1.7B
#2 Bristow Group. Houston TX, founded 1955 By Alan Bristow.
Gross Revenue 1.67b
#3 Air Methods, Eagle Wood, CO. Founded 1980 by Roy Morgan.
Gross Revenue 1.1b
#4 Air Medical Group Holding. Lewisville, TX. A company formed by private equity investors who literally decided to buy up every air ambulance company they could find.
Revenue $450,000,000-$750,000,000 Mil
#5 NHV Noordzee Helicopters Vlaanderen. Ostend, Belgium, Founded in 1997 by Eric Van Hal. Revenue $275,000,000 mil
#6 HNZ, Alberta, CA.
Revenue $265,000,000mil.
Sound right? can't think of any other big ones

[EESDL]

The Mil Mi-26 (Russian: Миль Ми-26, NATO reporting name: Halo) is a Soviet/Russian heavy transport helicopter. Its product code is izdeliye 90. Operated by both military and civilian operators, it is the largest and most powerful helicopter to have gone into series production.

[Non-PC Plod]

Babcock? Incorporates Bond, Inaer etc

[Cyclic Hotline]

PHI
ERA
Babcock
ADH
Weststar
Erickson
AAR
Columbia

I'm sure there's more.

[Groquik]

not sorted because I have no idea of their revenue but
Babcock, Phi, UTair, Rosneft, Gazprom Avia, Bel Air, VNH, Sonair, Careflight, Evergreen
are some names that come to mind

and I probably miss some big ones

[MikeNYC]

Maverick Helicopters?

[Heliice]

UT Air ?

UTair - Aircrafts (http://heli.utair.ru/en/aircrafts/hel/index.html)

[Chris Pochari]

yeah forgot Babcock mission critical. Didn't Eric Van Hal buy Dancopter?

[Chris Pochari]

I'll ad those to the list

[RMK]

What range of EBITDA margin is normally seen in this industry sector? What is the target EBITDA margin generally sought?

[Chris Pochari]

Great list, that's why I joined this forum, to learn stuff!

[Chris Pochari]

for offshore it was 8-9% net profit in the boom years, 2000-2014 during the high oil price period, now most offshore operators are losing money. Air medical companies make very high margins 10-17%. Charter companies, utility operators, tours operators make somewhere between 4-6% net profit. How do I know this? I'm a market research geek with access to specialized industry reports. I have this one report on 200 privately held European helicopter operators. I can get information for profit, company value, revenue growth etc.
Plimsoll reports
IBIS world
Technavio
these are good places to get this info

[RMK]

Thanks; it was more a question of curiosity. I’m active in the financial sector, not aviation.

I knew it to be a somewhat small/niche industry, but noting the numbers above, only a small handful of players would have access to the capital markets. Post crisis, everyone is a cash flow lender and asset-based lending generally falls on deaf ears – which further amplifies any problems which arise in the sector.

[500guy]

Im not sure about globally, but as far as USA assets its PHI then Bristow, ERA, then maybe Some ofr rhe medical companies, Erickson and Columbia, HTS then maybye RLC life flight, etc

[EESDL]

Dancopter was part of Blueway group - which also had a vertical lift utility element.
All owned by NHV

[minigundiplomat]

You can add some more to that list:


Everett
Titan (THG)
Starlight
Caverton
Gulf Helicopters
Heli-Union
Heliconia
Tunisavia
Panh
Heli-Sky
Sonnair
Silkway


Chris P - your statement on Air Medical companies earning high margins may be correct for the USA, but is not always the case elsewhere.

[Geosync]

Papillon Airways(Halverson Group) has huge Airbus fleet for tours, leasing, long line work. Not sure where it stacks up with the others but I'd imagine they're close to the top, most certainly in the U.S, most certainly for Airbus helos.