Offshore operating giant Bristow has exercised options for four Leonardo AW189s to be used for offshore oil-and-gas transport contracts, and announced plans for enhanced training capabilities and support from Leonardo.
The deals, announced at European Rotors in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, include the purchase of a Level D full flight simulator, to be installed at Bristow’s U.K. headquarters in Aberdeen, and a “support package” for Bristow’s fleet of AW139s and AW189s.
The support includes enhanced power-by-the-hour agreements for the fleet, and a global fleet support agreement, which covers key performance indicators, inventory management, training, and health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS).
The four AW189s are options from a previously-announced framework agreement, and are scheduled to enter service in 2025 and 2026.
“These additions align with Bristow’s strategic objectives to enhance operational capability and meet contractual demands,” said Stu Stavley, Bristow’s chief operating officer for offshore energy services, in a press release. “The finalization of these long-term support and training agreements will support Bristow’s ability to meet the evolving needs of both our government services and offshore energy services operations.”
In a climate of a strained supply chain, Paul de Jonge Van Ellemeet, SVP commercial market development and global accounts at Leonardo, said framework agreements are helpful to both the OEM and the operator — enabling more foresight for the former and shorter lead times for the latter.
“If you do a framework for a long term with some firm [orders] and options, you can plan around it,” he told Vertical. “So for us, it works very efficiently because we can plan, we know where [aircraft] will go, which configuration they are, they can go to the market and offer shorter entry to services.”
The AW139 simulator will join an existing AW189 simulator at Bristow’s facility in Aberdeen, and is scheduled to begin operation in 2026.
“The addition of the 139 simulator in Aberdeen heavily supports our SAR2G program, which is reintroducing the 139s into the [U.K.’s SAR] program,” said Neil Ebberson, Bristow’s director of government services.
Bristow received the third of its new AW189s for the SAR2G program this week, and expecting another two before the end of the year. The program will ultimately use nine AW189s, six AW139s, and three Sikorsky S-92s.
The transition to the UKSAR2G contract has already begun, with the first two AW139s in Aberdeen undergoing modification to the Nova Systems mission system that will be used for the second-generation SAR program.
