07 March, 2019:Babcock Australasia, an independent emergency and mission-critical helicopter providers have completed its first year of Airbus H175 helicopter operations in Timor Leste after clocking up nearly 1400 flights offering offshore aviation services for their oil and gas customer.
The company uses two H175s for personnel transport, search and rescue, and medevac duties in the Timor Sea reports a 98 percent aircraft availability rate for the 12 months after its entry into service in January 2018.
In 2018 Babcock’s Timor operation recorded 1,274 flight hours in 1,365 sectors and the company received positive reviews from their customers about the comfort level of H175. The helicopters are operated in support of ConocoPhillips offshore operations in the region.
The H175 helicopter is designed to be safe and competitive in the oil and gas, and search and rescue sectors. It has very powerful engines, up to 270 nautical miles radius of operation and the latest technology in avionics and automation. The aircraft are already in service in the North Sea, Western Africa and the Gulf of Mexico as well as Timor Leste.
Prior to delivery of the aircraft, Airbus had worked with Babcock to train 27 pilots and engineers on the H175 and Babcock has since employed 19 Timorese support staff for their Dili base which includes four local engineers who are training at Airbus Helicopters’ Marignane, France headquarters.
Andrew Cridland, Managing Director Aviation Offshore for Babcock Australasia said, “As the aviation company who introduced the H175 aircraft to the Southern Hemisphere, we are extremely pleased with the H175’s performance in this first year of operation. Our exceptional reliability statistics are a testament to the excellent work performed by our highly skilled engineers and the commitment by Airbus to deliver the necessary parts in a timely manner to Timor-Leste. The aircraft have been well received by our customer and the passengers we transport. As a super medium aircraft, the H175 has good economics and is clearly setting new standards in the offshore business.”
ConocPhillips Manager, Global Aviation Safety Assurance, James Adams said, “We have been very pleased with the performance, economics and reliability of the H175. The success of our Timor operation has been a combined effort of Babcock Offshore Services and the excellent collaboration from the Airbus Oil & Gas support team.”