Northern Helicopter has reached an agreement with the F. Laeisz shipping company to operate one of its BK117s from the polar research ship Polarstern.
The icebreaker, which is chartered to Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), operates in the Arctic during the northern summer season moving to the Antarctic in November.
Under the terms of the agreement, NHC will provide flight crew and ensure continuing airworthiness of aircraft used on the contract.
To support the maintenance element, NHC has appointed its sister company DRF Stiftung Luftrettung gemeinnützige to carry out the maintenance function. The contract with AWI begins later this month for three years with an option to extend for a further two.
Reacting to the announcement, Armin Ortmann, Managing Director of Northern Helicopter, said: “The assignment is a great recognition of our high quality and committed work in recent years. Entry into the ‘research aviation’ segment is another important step in the development of our company. We look forward to a long-term partnership with the shipping company and the AWI.”
