Bond Helicopters expanding
 

Looks like Bond Helicopters are expanding their base in Aberdeen. Is it true that they are taking over the old Heli-one hangar in a few weeks time and also looking at turning the old club house next to the GAMA hangar into their new terminal. They are also ment to be getting another 2 or 3 more EC225's in June. Have Bond won more contracts or just an increase workload with their contracts they already have.

Interesting. Does this mean there will be jobs on go ? Another abinitio course ? Is the old hangar used or has it lain empty since H1 left ? Good to see expansion and investment in Aberdeen.

They have also expanded into Australia but use the name Australian Helicopters over here.

Check their website, Bondaviationgroup.com for jobs, if and when they come up

I thought Bond were now part of INAER?

Heliringer. Note quite correct, but almost. Bond and Australian Helicopters are owned by the same parent company, same one that owns Inaer.

Bond is operating in their own right under their own offshore AOC in Australia should they win any contracts.

"I thought Bond were now part of INAER?"

Correct.

Incorrect.

Bond and INAER are now both part of the World Helicopter Group.

ROTORHUB

World Helicopters acquires Bond Aviation Group for ?300m

02 May 2011 - 14:09 by the Shephard News Team

World Helicopters, the holding company of Grupo Inaer ("Inaer"), owned by Investindustrial and KKR, today announces the successful acquisition of Bond Aviation Group ("Bond), the UK's largest independent emergency and mission critical helicopter operator.

With over 40 helicopters, Bond provides onshore and offshore helicopter services to the emergency services, police and oil and gas operators.

Inaer, with ca. 320 aircraft (273 rotary and 47 fixed wing), is the leading global provider of mission critical helicopter services and has operations in Europe, Australia, North Africa and south America.

Peter and Stephen Bond have made a substantial financial investment into the World Helicopter Group and will both have executive seats on the World Helicopters Board.

Peter Bond will remain Chairman of the Bond Aviation Group and the Bond operations brand will continue as will the current senior management team in Bond Offshore helicopters and Bond Air Services.

Peter Bond, executive Chairman of Bond Helicopters, said: "Bond is a perfect fit with Inaer. Both share the same entrepreneurial spirit and are complementary on both a geographical and fleet basis.

"We are excited about the prospects that World Helicopters brings with its strong capital base for the continued successful expansion and operation of Bond Air Services and Bond Offshore Helicopters, ensuring the highest levels of service provision and flexibility to meet our customers' requirements. Furthermore, the resulting Group will leverage on its enlarged size to stay at the forefront in terms of safety, technology advances and fleet capabilities".

Luis Minano, Executive Chairman of Inaer, commented: "We are delighted to have completed this integration which provides us with a strong platform for growth in the fast growing international emergency services market. In the last five years we have built Inaer into a leader in terms of quality, safety and reliability serving governments, local authorities, commercial clients and the public in saving lives and protecting the environment.

"This acquisition provides us with access to a strong management team and further opportunities to extend our safety and training investments to support our clients. The two entities will operate ca. 360 aircraft worldwide".

Source: World Helicopters / Bond

Reporting Scotland claiming that Bond are about to announce they have won a contract from Shell!

Presume this is for Aberdeen and the one currently held by Bristow?

The poisoned chalice...............??

Central North Sea I believe. See post 170 on Shell Southern NS contract thread.

This seems like rapid growth from Bond. Are they going to be able to have enough pilots and engineers for another new contract?

As far as pilots are concerned, I know a few guys who have been employed recently and they tell me that there are quite a number of conversion courses planned (with people confirmed as bums on seats) for the foreseeable future.

Presumably Shell will be waiting for the hooha to die down before announcing to whom they have awarded the contract.

Bond management changes
 

BBC News - Bond Offshore Helicopters managing director Bill Munro steps down

I see the CEO of the UK parent company is also leaving. Is this the precursor to a major rebranding to get rid of the troubled Bond name?

Such a shame that so much bad luck has befallen them since the relaunch of Bond. The old Bond managed to survive decades without such major incidents when the bigger operators had several very serious accidents. Just the way the dice falls I guess.

Coincidental. The succession planning has been in place for some time.

The parent company CEO retired. Bond Offshore MD stood down/aside. Might be connected but it appears that the two are not related, then again I may just be naive.

How are jobs written out at Bond ? I've never really seen actual job offers posted on their website.

Oh well, I see the expected has been announced and Shell are dumping Bond before they have even started.