Scotland Center Will Also House Simulator

Eurocopter UK announced Tuesday plans to build a major new helicopter service centre at Kirkhill Commercial Park in Dyce, Aberdeen. The center will bring the most up-to-date helicopter support technology to one of the busiest off shore oil and gas helicopter maintenance hubs in the world.

The facility, which will be designed and built for Eurocopter UK by Knight Property Group, will offer logistical and technical support and flight simulator training for the UK's main heliport for the offshore oil industry. Home to major offshore helicopter operators Bristow Helicopters, Bond Offshore and CHC, Aberdeen is already a maintenance center for 59 Super Puma/ EC255 family helicopters which fly an average of 85,000 hours per year in offshore missions, representing some of the most intensive helicopter traffic in the world.

The Eurocopter centre will comprise a 10,000 sq ft logistics warehouse and 5,000 sq ft of offices as well as 5,360 sq ft of flight simulator accommodation, which will house Eurocopter's first UK-based EC225 Flight Training Simulator. Work at the site will begin with ground breaking in April, and it is expected that the facility will be completed by December 2009. The centre will occupy the 1.2 acre site four at Knight Property Group's Kirkhill Commercial Park.

"The new state of the art Eurocopter facility in Aberdeen reinforces Eurocopter's commitment to investing in the UK, and to bringing the best technical and logistical support to where our customers need it most," said Markus Steinke, Managing Director of Eurocopter UK. "We aim to have a network of local operations close to our customers throughout the UK. With our already strong presence in England, Wales and Ireland, we are pleased to be now making a further commitment to Scotland."

Established in 1992, the Franco-German-Spanish Eurocopter Group is a division of aerospace consortium EADS, and employs approximately 15,600 people.

FMI: www.eurocopter.com