News

£153 million contract wins fuel 80 new jobs at Bond

September 23, 2009

Bond Aviation Group, one of Europe’s leading twin engined helicopter service providers, continues to grow its business substantially after securing five new long-term contracts worth a total of £153m.

The contracts, all five to seven years in duration, will commence late 2009, early 2010 and will see Bond introduce nine new aircraft and create a further 80 new jobs across the company.

The wins will mean an increase in Bond’s crew change operations for the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry in the North Sea, Southern North Sea and Irish Sea and further development of the company’s presence in the air ambulance sector. It also signals Bond’s entry into the Renewable Energy Industry with the UK’s first helicopter support contract of its kind, where it will fly engineers out to the world’s largest offshore wind farm from January 2010.

Bond’s helicopter fleet will expand through the introduction of nine new aircraft with a total value of circa £50m to service these new long-term contracts. The aircraft include four light category Eurocopter EC135T2is, four medium category Eurocopter AS365N3s, and one heavy category Eurocopter EC225. All of which, will be delivered by the end of 2009 and early 2010, bringing the company’s UK fleet to 40 twin engine helicopters.

Peter Bond, Executive Chairman of Bond Aviation Group, said: “These successes demonstrate our philosophy of securing long-term contracts by providing customers with the right equipment to meet their needs and delivering an economical and high quality service provided by our highly motivated, experienced and enthusiastic team.”

“These additional contracts continue to provide security for our existing and future staff and act as a springboard for further Domestic expansion, as well as providing a focus on re-establishing International operations with further investment available in quality staff and the latest equipment.”

The 80 new jobs have been created across the Bond Group in addition to its existing workforce of 379. The roles primarily include pilots and engineers as well as additional ground and admin staff.