British International Helicopter Services (BIH), owned by
Bristow Group, is a British-owned helicopter operator. It operates a fleet of ten helicopters covering
search and rescue
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
, offshore, defence, charter and flying training activities from its bases at
Newquay Airport
Cornwall Airport Newquay is the main commercial airport for Cornwall, United Kingdom, located at Mawgan in Pydar, northeast of the town of Newquay on Cornwall's north coast. Its runway was operated by RAF St Mawgan before 2008, and is now o ...
,
Coventry Airport
Coventry Airport is located south-southeast of Coventry city centre, in the village of Baginton, Warwickshire, England. The airport is operated and licensed by Coventry Airport Limited. Its CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P902) allows flights ...
and
RAF Mount Pleasant
RAF Mount Pleasant (also known as Mount Pleasant Airport, Mount Pleasant Complex or MPA) is a Royal Air Force station in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. The airfield goes by the motto of "Defend the right" (while the m ...
in the Falkland Islands.
It operates from Newquay using two Eurocopter AS 365N2
Dauphin helicopters on behalf of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) based at
HMS Drake
Nineteen ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Drake'' after Sir Francis Drake or after the drake:
* was a 16-gun sixth rate launched in 1653 and sold in 1691.
* was a 24-gun sixth rate launched in 1694 and wrec ...
in
HMNB Devonport
His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Roy ...
. A
Sikorsky S-61
The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. It was developed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft.
The commercial version of the Sea King w ...
helicopter is also used on occasions for FOST duties.
In 2015, BIH as part of a wider group won a £180million ten year contract to operate from RAF Mount Pleasant with the contract commencing in 2016. Two Sikorsky S-61 helicopters are used for everyday military transport and land logistic support around the islands, where there are few roads and a strip of sea separates the two main islands. Search and rescue is conducted using two
AW189
The AgustaWestland AW189 is a twin-engined, super-medium-lift helicopter manufactured by Leonardo S.p.A. It is derived from the AW149, and shares similarities with the AW139 and AW169.
Development
On 20 June 2011, development of the eight-tonn ...
helicopters.
Coventry Airport operator BIH (Onshore) functions as BIH's utilities division, servicing an operational workload that includes police and
air ambulance
Air medical services is a comprehensive term covering the use of air transportation, aeroplane or helicopter, to move patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. Personnel provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and cri ...
capability, commercial helicopter support including surveying, pipeline patrols, TV mast calibration, load lifting, forestry and national park services and film work. BIH (Onshore) also maintains BIH's VIP and commercial charter business, flight training for both commercial and private pilots and helicopter engineering across a wide range of helicopter and aeroplane types.
History
The company was originally
British Airways Helicopters
British Airways Helicopters was a British helicopter airline from 1964 to 1986.
History
Starting in 1947, British European Airways (BEA) had operated a Helicopter Experiment Unit. It initially operated a fleet of five helicopters sourced from ...
until its privatisation in September 1986, when it was sold to publisher
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster.
Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from N ...
and subsequently renamed British International Helicopters.
In 1993,
CHC Helicopter
CHC Helicopter is a Texas-based helicopter services company.
CHC Helicopter maintains it global headquarters in Irving, Texas and operates more than 250 aircraft in 30 countries around the world. CHC's major international operating units are b ...
acquired 40% of BIH's voting shares, and raised their shareholding to 90% within a year. BIH became the UK subsidiary of CHC, as Brintel Helicopters. In October 1996, Brintel acquired the
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
-based Veritair.
The current incarnation of the company was formed in 2000, with the backing of
3i Group
3i Group plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational private equity and venture capital company based in London, England. 3i is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
History
The company ...
and the
Bank of Scotland
The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...
, through a management buy in of the non-oil related operations of
Scotia Helicopters and
CHC Helicopter
CHC Helicopter is a Texas-based helicopter services company.
CHC Helicopter maintains it global headquarters in Irving, Texas and operates more than 250 aircraft in 30 countries around the world. CHC's major international operating units are b ...
, with the Bank of Scotland providing funding of £22million.
![Tresco - heliport](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Tresco_-_heliport.jpg)
In 2006, BIH finalised a secondary management buy-out financed by a syndicate of investors led by
Matrix Private Equity Partners
Matrix most commonly refers to:
* ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise
** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film
** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...
, with the backing of
Finance Cornwall
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fin ...
and
Chrysalis Venture Capital Trust
A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...
.
As a result of the loss of a
South Wales Police
South Wales Police ( cy, Heddlu De Cymru) is one of the four territorial police forces in Wales. It is headquartered in Bridgend.
The force was formed as South Wales Constabulary on 1 June 1969, by the amalgamation of the former Glamorgan Const ...
helicopter air support contract, the business of British International at Cardiff was sold in May 2008 to the management team led by Captain Julian Verity. The new company Heli Charter Wales is trading as Veritair Aviation.
Veritair changed its name to British International Helicopter Services in October 2008.
In June 2013, the company was acquired by The Rigby Group subsidiary Patriot Aerospace to supplement its existing aviation activities.
On the 1st of August 2022 the company was acquired by Bristow Group.
Cessation of passenger flights
On 1 August 2012, it was announced that the service between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly would be withdrawn from November. A Judicial Review triggered by the Tesco supermarket group over the sale of Penzance Heliport to Sainsburys created a period of delay which affected the finance to replace the fleet of helicopters.
BIH flew seasonal and year-round domestic scheduled services from its main base at
Penzance Heliport
Penzance Heliport is located northeast of Penzance, Cornwall. The heliport hosts scheduled flights to the Isles of Scilly, with a connection to the railway network at Penzance railway station by a special bus service. The original heliport h ...
(EGHK/PZE), with services to
St. Mary's Airport (EGHE/ISC), and
Tresco Heliport
Tresco Heliport is a heliport located on the island of Tresco, in the Isles of Scilly off the southwest coast of England, UK. The heliport was served by a scheduled helicopter service from 1983 to 2012, and since 2020 a new scheduled servic ...
(EGHT/TSO),
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...
. It used two
Sikorsky S-61
The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. It was developed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft.
The commercial version of the Sea King w ...
helicopters from a pool of nine of the type that it owned. The flights ceased on 31 October 2012.
Fleet
* British International Helicopter Services:
**G-ATBJ
Sikorsky S-61N
The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. It was developed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft.
The commercial version of the Sea King was developed during the ...
1965
**G-ATFM
Sikorsky S-61N
The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. It was developed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft.
The commercial version of the Sea King was developed during the ...
1965
**G-BCEB
Sikorsky S-61N
The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. It was developed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft.
The commercial version of the Sea King was developed during the ...
1965
**G-BFRI
Sikorsky S-61N
The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. It was developed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft.
The commercial version of the Sea King was developed during the ...
1978
**G-FSAR
Agusta AW189 2015
**G-SAAR
Agusta AW189 2015
**ZJ164
Airbus Helicopters AS365
The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) AS365 Dauphin (''Dolphin''), also formerly known as the Aérospatiale SA 365 Dauphin 2, is a medium-weight multipurpose twin-engine helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It was originally developed a ...
N2 1991
**ZJ165
Airbus Helicopters AS365
The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) AS365 Dauphin (''Dolphin''), also formerly known as the Aérospatiale SA 365 Dauphin 2, is a medium-weight multipurpose twin-engine helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It was originally developed a ...
N2 1990
* BIH (Onshore):
** G-CHKW -
Robinson R44
The Robinson R44 is a four-seat light helicopter produced by Robinson Helicopter Company since 1992. Based on the company's two-seat Robinson R22, the R44 features hydraulically assisted flight controls. It was first flown on 31 March 1990 and ...
(Raven)
** G-NWPS –
Eurocopter EC135
The Eurocopter EC135 (now Airbus Helicopters H135) is a twin-engine civil light utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters (formerly known as Eurocopter). It is capable of flight under instrument flight rules (IFR) and is outfitted with ...
T.1 1998
** G-SCHZ –
Eurocopter AS355 Ecureuil 2 1999
Accidents and incidents
Although British International Helicopter Services (including its time under the Veritair banner) has suffered no accidents since its inception in May 2000, the following events were experienced by its predecessors:
* 16 July 1983 A British Airways Helicopters Sikorsky S-61N G-BEON crashed into the southern Celtic Sea en route from Penzance to St. Mary's Airport in low visibility. The crash killed 20 of the 26 passengers and crew (see
1983 British Airways Sikorsky S-61 crash), making it the worst UK Helicopter accident until the
1986 British International Helicopters Chinook crash.
* 6 November 1986 A British International Helicopters
Boeing 234LR Chinook crashed on approach to Sumburgh Airport, Shetland Islands, killing 45 (see
1986 British International Helicopters Chinook crash).
* 13 July 1988 A Sikorsky S-61N ditched into the North Sea, no injuries (see
1988 British International Helicopters Sikorsky S-61N crash).
* 21 April 2000 A Veritair
Eurocopter AS355
Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. Its head office is located at Marseille Provence A ...
operating for
South Wales Police
South Wales Police ( cy, Heddlu De Cymru) is one of the four territorial police forces in Wales. It is headquartered in Bridgend.
The force was formed as South Wales Constabulary on 1 June 1969, by the amalgamation of the former Glamorgan Const ...
crashed into a house in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
when the tail rotor drive failed.
References
External links
*
{{helicopter airlines
2000 establishments in the United Kingdom
3i Group companies
Airlines established in 2000
Airlines of the United Kingdom
Helicopter airlines
Transport in Cornwall
Transport in the Isles of Scilly