Bristow Group has announced that it has signed a maintenance agreements with Leonardo Helicopters and Pratt & Whitney which will see the company’s entire fleet of AW139s under the same maintenance and support umbrella.
The legacy Era AW139 fleet was previously covered by a limited power-by-the-hour (“PBH”) support agreement with Leonardo for the airframes, while the engines were maintained on a time and cost of materials basis. The legacy Bristow AW139 fleet was covered by multiple, disparate PBH support agreements with Leonardo for the airframes, and the engines were covered under a PBH agreement with Pratt & Whitney. The new agreements result in consistent, global maintenance support programs for Bristow’s AW139 helicopters, both the airframes and the engines.
“Following the merger of Era and Bristow in June 2020, we have been working for two years to align our AW139 maintenance support agreements on the most favourable terms possible for Bristow,” said Stuart Stavley, Senior Vice President, Global Fleet Management. “The cost certainty contained in these agreements is particularly valuable given the broader economic backdrop of the current inflationary environment.”
In addition to the AW139 agreements, Bristow has also signed long-term maintenance support agreements with Leonardo for the AW189 airframe and with Honeywell for the AW139 avionics suite. The company has also signed a long-term maintenance agreement with General Electric for support of AW189 and S-92 engines.
