Bond Aviation Group

Bond Aviation Group
Private
Industry Airline
Founded 1961. Ceased operating as Bond Aviation Group in 2016 (1961. Ceased operating as Bond Aviation Group in 2016)
Headquarters Staverton, England, United Kingdom
Parent Babcock International
Subsidiaries Bond Air Services
Bond Offshore Helicopters
Website bondaviationgroup.com

Bond Aviation Group was the name of a large British helicopter operator based at Gloucestershire Airport, Staverton. It was purchased by Babcock International in 2014. It incorporated Bond Air Services and Bond Offshore Helicopters. All 'Bond' businesses in the UK changed their names in 2016 and today operate as 'Babcock', part of the group's Mission Critical Services businesses within the International division.

Bond Offshore Helicopters has become Babcock Mission Critical Services Offshore and Bond Air Services has become Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore.

Both companies hold a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type B Operating Licence, and they are permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with less than 20 seats.[1]

Bond mainly operates Eurocopter aircraft.

History

A DH.86 Express of Bond Air Services at Liverpool Airport on the day of the Grand National in 1950.

Founded in 1961 under the name of Management Aviation Limited, the company first entered the offshore transport industry in 1974, providing helicopters mainly in support of offshore oil and gas operations.[2] By the late 1990s, Bond operated a fleet of over 200 helicopters. In 1995, the business was merged with Helikopter Service Group of Norway.

The group organisation was formed in 1999 when Bond was acquired from Helikopter Service Group.

In 2014 the group's parent company, Avincis, was purchased by the Babcock International Group. All UK operations under the Bond name adopted the Babcock name in 2016.

Bond Offshore Helicopters

In 2001, Bond Offshore Helicopters was formed at Aberdeen Airport to take advantage of the booming North Sea oil and gas, crew replacement requirement. In 2002, BP awarded Bond Offshore the largest ever offshore helicopter transport service contract, worth £120 million, to provide all of their Aberdeen based helicopter support operations. This part of the group now employs 250 people and has a forecast turnover of £59m.[3]

In addition to the oil and gas industry service contract, Bond also operates a Search & Rescue operation in the North Sea.

The company operate the Eurocopter Super Puma AS332L2, Eurocopter 365N3 Dauphin and Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma II.

In 2016 Bond Offshore Helicopters changed its name to Babcock Mission Critical Services Offshore

Bond Air Services

A Eurocopter EC-135 owned and operated by Bond Air Services Air Ambulance re-fuelling at Glasgow City Heliport in Western Scotland. Glasgow Science Tower in the background.

Bond Air Services is the largest operator of Air Ambulance and Police aviation units in the UK.[3] Using mainly Eurocopter EC-135 and Bolkow BO-105 helicopters, they operate from 17 bases around the UK and have 2 headquarters, Staverton and Glasgow.

In 2016 Bond Air Services changed its name to Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=183&pagetype=90&pageid=9068 CAA website
  2. ↑ "About Us". Bond Aviation Group. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  3. 1 2 http://www.hays.com/jobs/bond/welcome.html Bond Profile
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