Norsk Helikopter has achieved another industry milestone by becoming the first S-92 operator in the world to reach 1,000 fleet hours on both their S-92 helicopters. As recently as this past June, Norsk celebrated the achievement of reaching 1,000 flight hours on both their S-92 helicopters, transporting more than 20,000 passengers to and from North Sea oil fields in the process.

Norsk's two S-92 helicopters began revenue service in February and March, 2005.

"The overall performance of the S-92 has been in accordance to the high expectations we and our customer had for this new generation aircraft. We are pleased to have reached 1,000 hours on our first two S-92s and we expect that the average annual utilization of our S-92's will be more than 2,000 hours per helicopter the first year of operation," said Geir Tynning, Norsk's Commercial Director.

"Norsk's achievement of 1000 flight hours with just one of their aircraft demonstrates the confidence that Norsk places in the S-92. Its robust design, new technology and demonstrated reliability have made the S-92 more than ready to meet the demanding needs of our Norwegian offshore oil customers," said Jeff Pino, Sikorsky's Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Commercial Programs.

Norsk's two S-92 helicopters are used by Statoil for crew change missions from Bergen, Norway, throughout the North Sea area. They replaced two AS332 Super Pumas. In addition to these milestone fleet hour achievements, Norsk was the first offshore oil S-92 operator in Europe, making its maiden revenue flight at 7:30 a.m. on February 21.

The S-92 is the first helicopter in the world certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency/Joint Aviation Authorities (EASA/JAA) to the latest and most rigorous safety standards. The S-92 was also the first helicopter certified by the FAA to FAR Part 29 Transport Rotorcraft, Amendment 47, the latest U.S. safety regulations, which mirror the European standards.

FMI: www.sikorsky.com