Wed, May 07, 2014
Aircraft To Fly Oil And Gas Missions In Africa
The presence of the EC225 in the African oil and gas heli-lift market will expand following delivery of an additional workhorse rotorcraft to SonAir, which is to deploy this long-range helicopter on operations in Angola.
A handover ceremony in Marignane, France marked the EC225’s delivery, with this latest aircraft joining SonAir’s Airbus Helicopters-built fleet of heavy helicopters that already includes 11 EC225s, four AS332 L2s and three AS365 N3s.
As a subsidiary of the Sonangol Group – a structured aviation service provider in Angola, and the largest African helicopter operator – SonAir will utilize the newly-delivered EC225 in oil and gas transport duties with an existing customer. SonAir is in the process of adding a total of five additional EC225s to its inventory, three of which will be leased from Milestone Aviation Group, while two others will be owned outright by SonAir, permitting the company to initiate heli-lift business with three new partners and two existing customers.
“The expansion of SonAir’s EC225 fleet underscores their confidence in this powerful helicopter for highly-demanding missions,” said Airbus Helicopters CEO Guillaume Faury. “It reinforces our long term relationship and our commitment to fully support their growing activity in Africa.”
Joining today’s EC225 delivery ceremony were executives that included SonAir CEO João Andrade.
“By growing our fleet, SonAir will benefit from the EC225’s performance, range and power,” Andrade explained. “We look forward to continuing to serve our customers with one of the best aircraft in oil and gas helicopter transportation.”
The EC225 is an 11-ton-class rotorcraft in Airbus Helicopters’ Super Puma family.
(Image provided by Airbus Helicopters)
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