Helicopters New Zealand or HNZ was a New Zealand-based helicopter operator serving the oil and gas, EMS and government markets. Operating a mix of light and medium turbine-engined

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, it performed helicopter transport and air work for a number of private and government clients across

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

and

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

History

Helicopters New Zealand base, Nelson, 1969 - Flickr - PhillipC

Founded in 1955 in

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

, Helicopters New Zealand commenced operations with a

Bell 47 The Bell 47 is a single-rotor single-engine light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It was based on the third Bell 30 prototype, which was the company's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young. The 47 became the first he ...

, conducting agricultural operations on the New Zealand South Island. The company grew and started providing helicopter air work services for the Government of New Zealand and oil and gas clients in the 1960s. In 1992, Helicopters New Zealand bought West Coast Helicopters renaming it Helicopters (Australia) Pty Ltd and obtained a foothold in the Australian Helicopter market. In 2011, HNZ was purchased by

Canadian Helicopters Canadian Helicopters Limited, formerly a part of the Canadian operations of CHC Helicopter Corporation, operates 112 aircraft from 26 bases across Canada and provides a broad range of helicopter services to support the following activities: emerg ...

. In 2012, Canadian Helicopters Group Inc., the parent company for

and HNZ, changed its name to

HNZ Group HNZ Group Inc, now Canadian Helicopters Limited, operated 140 helicopters in support of multi-national companies and government agencies, including onshore and offshore oil & gas, mineral exploration, military support, hydro/utilities, forest man ...

Inc. HNZ Group Inc's operations in the Pacific were sold to

Petroleum Helicopters International Petroleum Helicopters International, Inc. (PHI), is an American commercial helicopter operator, founded in 1949, by Robert L. Suggs. The company is based in Lafayette, Louisiana and provides service for the oil and gas industry, aeromedical serv ...

in October 2017. The remainder of HNZ Group Inc. was taken private and continued operations as Canadian Helicopters Limited.

Clients

HNZ operated on behalf of the following organizations: * Shell-Todd Oil (Oil & Gas) * Rio Tinto (Pilot Transfers) * FESA WA (Firebombing) * Origin Energy (Oil & Gas) * Esso (Oil & Gas)

Fleet

Helicopters (NZ) fleet 1955 to 2006

As of April 2012, the HNZ fleet consisted of over 45 aircraft:NZ Civil Aircraft Register Search
using "Helicopters NZ" as the search parameter. * 15 x

Eurocopter AS350 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 Ai ...

Series * 2 x

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 ...

Series * 1 x

Eurocopter EC130 The Eurocopter EC130 (now Airbus Helicopters H130) is a single engine light utility helicopter developed from the earlier Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil, one of the primary changes from which was the adoption of a Fenestron anti-torque device in p ...

Series * 3 x

Eurocopter EC145 The Eurocopter EC145 (now Airbus Helicopters H145) is a twin-engine light utility helicopter developed and manufactured by Airbus Helicopters. Originally designated as the ''BK 117'', the H145 is based upon the MBB/Kawasaki BK 117 C1, which ...

Series * 3 x

AgustaWestland AW139 The AgustaWestland AW139 is a medium-lift twin-engined helicopter developed and produced by the Anglo-Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, later wholly owned by Leonardo S.p.A. It is marketed at several different roles, including V ...

Series * 4 x

Bell 412 The Bell 412 is a utility helicopter of the Huey family manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It is a development of the Bell 212, with the major difference being the composite four-blade main rotor. Design and development Development began in the ...

Series * 3 x AW109SP

References

{{Airlines of New Zealand Helicopter airlines Airlines of New Zealand Airlines established in 1955 1955 establishments in New Zealand Nelson, New Zealand