Bond Offshore Helicopters’ biggest client in the North Sea has backed the aviation company, saying it has confidence in the firm’s safety measures.
Oil giant BP came out in support of Bond yesterday after a Bond aircraft ditched in the North Sea last month.
BP said Bond flew hundreds of its employees to and from offshore installations every week and would continue to do so.
It comes after BP’s rival, Shell, abandoned plans to hand a multimillion-pound contract to Bond to take over its UK flights.
Shell said earlier this week it did not have “sufficient assurances” on the safety of Bond’s operations.
It is believed the helicopter company was dismissed from Shell’s tendering process after one of its Super Pumas had to make an emergency landing in the water off Aberdeen on May 10.
Two crew and 12 passengers had to be rescued in what was the third serious incident involving a Bond Super Puma in three years.
Last night, a BP spokesman said: “Though we understand some of the concerns being expressed, BP remain confident in Bond’s ability to deliver a safe service for its passengers.”
Bond returned to Aberdeen after a five-year gap in 2004 after signing a 10-year deal to provide crew-change flights for BP. At the time, the contract was believed to be worth £260million.
Another Bond client, Aberdeen-based energy services firm Wood Group PSN, also backed the aviation company last night but said it would be reviewing Bond’s management systems.
Wood Group PSN, which contracts Bond to fly employees to the Hummingbird and Beatrice installations in the North Sea, said it had taken the advice of regulatory authorities, which said the Super Pumas were safe to fly.
A spokeswoman said: “Wood Group PSN rely on the external regulatory regime provided by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for assurance on the effectiveness of the management systems used by Bond, and we were advised by the CAA that their recent annual audit of Bond had no findings.
“We will be conducting our own audit of Bond to seek assurances on the effectiveness of their management system.”
Bond Offshore Helicopters managing director Malcolm Paine said: “We have been working extremely hard with our customers and all other industry players such as the Civil Aviation Authority, other operators and oil and gas companies to ensure a safe return to normal service.
“We are very pleased to have this support from these customers.”
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