Features Commercial Oil & Gas
Milestone Aviation Group makes milestone deal

This new order for the two Eurocopter helicopter types brings Milestone’s EC225 total order book value to more than US $891 million at list prices, while the list price valuation of its EC175 acquisition is approximately US $92 million.

Milestone Chairman and Co-Founder Richard Santulli and Eurocopter President and CEO Lutz Bertling announced the EC225 and EC175 contract on March 5 at the Heli-Expo 2013 helicopter industry show in Las Vegas.

“This order further develops our partnership with Milestone and demonstrates the confidence our longstanding partner places in Eurocopter’s Super Puma family and our new EC175,” Bertling said. “It underscores the EC225’s operational performance and value delivered with demanding customers such as Milestone, while making an important endorsement for the EC175.”

Milestone’s EC225s and EC175s will be configured to the requirements of its operating partners for use in duties such as crew change missions to offshore oil and gas platforms and search and rescue.

“The EC225 has a long-standing reputation for safety and reliability in the most demanding operating conditions,” commented Milestone’s Santulli. “Despite the current challenges the aircraft is facing, we are confident that Eurocopter and the EC225 will overcome them. This helicopter is a fantastic asset that will be a mainstay of the offshore oil and gas and search and rescue markets for decades to come.”

Santulli added: “With the EC175, our customers will benefit from the high-performance, range and payload capabilities of this exciting new aircraft.”

The EC225 integrates Eurocopter’s latest technological innovations in a highly capable 11-ton category helicopter. Powered by two Turbomeca Makila 2A1 engines, the EC225’s main gear box and 5-blade rotor give this rotorcraft the ability to carry a variety of payloads, along with excellent range and fast cruise speeds.

Deployed worldwide for civil and military search and rescue, as well as offshore and passenger transport missions, the Super Puma/Cougar family has logged more than 4.5 million flight hours in operations around the globe. When configured for offshore crew change operations in support of oil and gas producers, the EC225 can be rapidly converted for search and rescue operations. The EC175 was designed by Eurocopter in close cooperation with operators, and is the first helicopter in the seven-ton category with its payload and range capabilities. This rotorcraft also extends the EC225’s undisputed superiority of in-flight envelope protection, pilot assistance and situational awareness, and includes the most innovative alerting and self-monitoring system. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-67E engines and equipped with a five-blade Spheriflex main rotor system, the EC175’s range provides the reach needed by offshore service providers and other operators – transporting 16 passengers in an oil and gas configuration to distances of 140 NM., with its range approaching 200 NM. when 12 passengers are carried.