Company Says Issues Should Be Resolved By April, Though Some Remain Skeptical

Eurocopter says its EC225 Super Puma helicopters should be able to fly over the North Sea again by April. Some operators, however, say that is an overly optimistic timeline.

Two of the helos were forced to ditch in the North Sea last year. Those incidents led European and U.K. regulators to issue a ban on over-water flights by the aircraft in October. The helicopters had been used extensively by energy companies to transport workers to offshore drilling operations. Australian operators later joined the over-water moratorium.

Eurocopter discovered cracks in the gearboxes of the two aircraft that went into the water. The only flights currently being conducted by the Super Pumas are maintenance flights over land. The aircraft make up as much as a third of the North Sea's helicopter fleet, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

In a briefing for operators in Paris Thursday, Eurocopter officials said it is still conducting tests on the gearboxes, but feels confident that regulators will lift the over-water flight ban by April. They had originally hoped to have them flying again in February, and absent a definitive cause for the gearbox cracks, one operators said that it has told its clients that Eurocopter is being overly optimistic even with the April timeline. Eurocopter's CEO Lutz Bertling said that even once the Super Pumas are cleared to fly, the company will have to convince operators and passengers that the aircraft are safe.

Eurocopter did draw praise for its transparency as the investigations progresses. But grounding the fleet has reportedly created a worldwide shortage of helicopter capacity. Operators have been forced to lay off employees, and have asked some employees to stay on offshore rigs for up to four weeks at a time. If gearboxes and shafts have to be replaced on the entire fleet of EC225 helicopters, operators say the repairs could take up to a year to complete.

FMI: www.eurocopter.com