Heli-Union was invited to the Myanmar National Airlines’ 70^th Anniversary Gala Dinner Myanmar. More than 900 guests were invited to the celebration. Heli-Union also received a Certificate of Appreciation for its involvement.

 

Heli-Union, offshore helicopter provider was awarded a contract from TOTAL E&P BULGARIA in the support of their exploration campaign in Bulgaria. The 2 month project started the beginning of November 2018.

Following the contract, Heli-Union provided two medium type helicopters for crew transfers and 24/7 Medevac services. The helicopters flew from Varna international airport to TOTAL’s deepwater offshore block located in the Bulgarian Exclusive Economic Zone of the Black sea, approximately 60nm away from the coastline.

Jean-Baptiste Olry, Sales and Operations Director of Heli-Union commented, “We are honoured to be selected by an international Oil and Gas company as their aviation partner for this project. Bulgaria is an entirely new territory for Heli-Union. Heli-Union readiness to operate in a new country underlines our commitment to the future of oil and gas industry.

“Today’s challenging market demands a clear commitment to safe and flexible helicopter operations combined with a dedication to excellent customer service. Heli-Union is prepared to meet clients’ expectations without compromising on its international safety standards.” He added.

On 29th-30th August 2018, Heli-Union and Bestfly held a demonstration show in Bestfly premises, located in Luanda Airport, Angola, gathering both the local authorities and Oil and Gas companies operating in the country. The participants showed great interests in this latest industrial revolution in Angola.
The demonstration was with an aim to present the strong business partnership between Heli-Union and Bestfly, and their intention to bring forward not only top-notch helicopter services for Oil and Gas Company in Angola, but also determination to contribute to the country’s industrial development.
With 57 years of expertise providing helicopter services to Oil and Gas companies, a past experience operating in more than 60 countries worldwide, and a fleet of more than 40 aircraft located throughout four continents, Heli-Union is a major helicopter service provider. After 20 years of operation in Angola, Heli-Union has decided to consolidate its position by partnering with one of the main Angolan aviation providers and together set a new standard for the industry.
Established in 2009, Bestfly is an Angola-based Aviation services provider. By identifying the room of improvement in the local market, Bestfly is able to create a unique service, where competence, professionalism and efficiency are combined to meet and exceed customers’ expectations. Bestfly is known for its competences in aircraft management, handling, provision of hangarage, operational and flight planning support services.
“We are proud of and strongly believe in this new partnership with Bestfly”, said Jonathan COSSON, Deputy Managing Director of Heli-Union. “With Bestfly’s local knowledge and experience, Heli-Union will be able to reinforce its presence in Africa, especially in a massive oil and gas market like Angola. Together, we thrive on being the best aviation service provider in Angola.”
“We are very excited to collaborate with a world-known aviation actor like Heli-Union. I have the utmost confidence that with Heli-Union’s indepth proficiency of the helicopter industry and our domestic know-how of the Angolan market, we will certainly be able to exceed the expectation of the international Oil and Gas operators in Angola.”, commented Nuno Pereira, Chairman of Bestfly.
Heli-Union and Bestfly intend to deliver several helicopters in the near future to meet the operational needs of the Oil and Gas industry in Angola and to start operations as soon as possible.

Following the request of a non-profit organisation “ART ET VISION”, HELI-UNION went to a rural area in Port Gentil to meet the local children.

The main objective of this encounter is to explain to the children, the profession and the responsabilities of a helicopter pilot.  The children have also learned on how to access this type of profession.

A lot of questions were raised by the curious children regarding the profession, the different types of helicopters that it operates in Gabon, and many others.

Heli-Union spent an interesting and instructive afternoon. Heli-Union hopes that this opportunity to discover basic education in piloting could motivate these children to pursue career opportunities and take part in the development of aviation and rotorcraft industry in Gabon

Since the end of 2017, Heli-Union decided to strengthen its structure by combining its Quality and HSE Department. By combining the expertise and brilliant brains from both teams, Heli Union is able to create a new department, Quality and Safety, led by Veronique Milliat who previously held the position of Heli-Union Quality Director. Below is Veronique explaining briefly Heli-Union QHSE Department.

According to the IOGP (International Association of Oil and Gas Producers) requirements, there are four components identified as the key functional elements of Safety Management System. These are Safety Policy (based on a “Just Culture”), Safety Risk Management, Safety Assurance (Quality Assurance) and Safety Promotion. Until the end of 2017, the responsibilities towards these elements were divided between the Quality Department and the HSE Department. The two departments have then been merged to ensure activities and actions complement one another and support the effectiveness of the SMS as a whole.

Our main mission is to implement, develop and maintain the Safety Management System. Our roles within the company evolve around 3 main sectors: Compliance (continuous improvement to ensure global safety), risks management, and Safety Culture encouragement. Our team consists of a group of experts located at the headquarters in Toussus le Noble (see pictures below) that communicates regularly with HSSE coordinators on remote bases and Quality Controllers for the MRO services. We are also able to rely on the expertise of Regis Godvin, the Flight Safety Officer and HFDM Manager.

The permanent objectives of our department are to encourage a safety and risk culture, to continuously improve the level of safety and the working conditions, to promote actions on the environment and its conservation. All of these have to be in accordance with applicable regulatory and legal requirements while taking into accounts all best practices available for Heli-Union’s scope of activities. These contextualised objectives are defined, reviewed and analysed annually in a way to continuously improve the performance of our Safety management System. This year we will continue to encourage safety to create a positive and “just safety” culture within all levels of the workforce.

Heli-Union has been awarded a recognition award by Total E&P Myanmar during TEPM annual QHSE meeting in Yangon, Myanmar. The recognition award was granted to Heli Union in appreciation of no personnel injury and no incident within the 12 rolling months (May 2017 to April 2018) for its offshore helicopter services in Myanmar.

Thierry Festucci, the appointed Base Manager, said: “Heli Union is very honoured to receive this award from Total. The crew work so hard to ensure that high safety standards remain at the forefront of its operations everywhere in the world. This award highlights the effort, determination and dedication of our team and it will only encourage us to keep on improving our services.”

Heli-Union’s history in Myanmar dates back to the 1990 when Heli-Union first entered the Myanmar market with its Alouette helicopters for a seismic operation. Heli-Union continued to provide its service for the oil and gas companies operating in the country until 1998. In 2008, Heli-Union decided to return and strengthened its presence in South East Asia by establishing a dedicated office in Yangon, Myanmar. Today, the company’s presence in Myanmar has grown continuously throughout the years. Heli-Union Myanmar has excelled for the last 10 years of its full integration in Myanmar and shall continue on providing the best, efficient and safe services for its clients.

The 10km POG marathon took place on the 24^th of June 2018 in Port Gentil, Gabon for the second time. Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba gave the starting signal for the running event.

With more than 7000 runners participated in this event, among them is Leonard Komon, Kenyan long-distance runner and the current world record holder in the 10 kilometres and 15 km road races.

As the oldest helicopter operators supporting the Oil and Gas industry in Gabon, Heli-Union decided to participate in the event and was represented by two pilots.

Unfortunately, these two young pilots were not able to brought back victory being among the presences of world champions in the event, but their participations are greatly appreciated.

 

The Spanish Civil Guard has awarded Heli Union Training Center a 24 month contract to train 30 pilots. The contract requires training with FFS (Full Flight Simulator) corresponding to the aircraft type Dauphin AS365N3. HUTC provides the utilisation of its FFS which is located in Angouleme Airport along with its highly qualified instructors based on the training needs.

The pilots will be trained at HUTC facilities in Angouleme, France. The trainings required by the contract include emergency procedures exercise, IFR navigation, harsh condition flights, and many others.

Hervé Maugis, the Director of HUTC commented, “We are very honoured to be given this opportunity to train 30 pilots from the Spanish Civil Guard. Here at the HUTC, we are aiming to provide the best service through our qualified instructor, top of the range training courses, and all the required means (simulators, fleet, etc.) to ensure all our pupils are successfully qualified and well trained after finishing their courses. We also support our customers by enabling them to create operational scenarios and we are very attentive to offer the flexibility they need to re-schedule their training slots.”

Certified by the DGAC and EASA, HUTC is home of the only Dauphin AS365N3 FFS in Europe. Today, the same type of simulator can only be found in France and in Singapore. The simulator allows its users to perform several types of training, ranging from ab initio and recurrent training to specific programs covering failure procedures, instrument flight rules (IFR), offshore and rescue operations, night flight (night vision goggles), flights over mountainous regions and low altitude navigation. HUTC is currently proposing one of the best offer for PBN training in Europe thanks to their brand new FTD 2 equipped with two Garmin GTN750.

As the Operations Manager responsible for operations of Heli-Union Gabon, Florent Thibaudet is not only a qualified Dauphin AS365N3 pilot, but he also manages daily tasks required to maintain operational excellence at Heli Union Gabon.

As far back I can remember, I have always wanted to be a pilot. For me, it did not matter if it is an airplane pilot or a helicopter pilot. I just want to fly! However, now I understand that once you start to pilot a helicopter, you will not want to pilot an airplane anymore!

I have been working for 30 years in the aviation industry as a pilot. Until today, I have performed more than 10.000 flying hours. My journey with Heli-Union started 10 years ago. Before that, I was working as a pilot for specialised companies that provide aerial work.

I have known Heli-Union ever since I was a child. I would see helicopters with Heli-Union written on them flying around the city, featured in some famous French movies at the time, or even during the Tour de France! For a child who was fascinated by the aviation industry, Heli-Union became one of my dream company to fly with.

At first did not have enough experience to fly with Heli-Union, which was why I decided to start as an aerial work pilot before finally climbing up the ladder and build the courage to try!

I was amazed on the diverse backgrounds of the pilots and engineers in this company. Some of them used to work in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Air Ambulance, etc. and some others who used to work as aerial work pilot like myself. This creates a great atmosphere between the employees. We are able to share our stories, listen to and learn from their exciting experience.

It has been 6 month that I have been commissioned in Gabon. Prior to that I spent many years flying with Heli-Union for many different temporary missions in different bases in Africa. Before Douala I also spent some time in Libya and Congo too!

As an Operations Manager, you have to be a multitasker. You have to take the responsibilities not only as a pilot, but you have to manage the operations, the local crew, some administrative tasks, relationship with the customers on site, and many others. It is not an easy job, but I must say that I love the challenges that come with it.

It is not a secret that the oil and gas market is not doing very well now. Nevertheless I feel that Heli-Union is dealing with this situation quite well by aiming for long term and objective-driven strategy. Heli-Union is able to stabilise its position in the market and minimise the negative effects from this crisis. Of course we all hope that the market improves soon.

Heli-Union is the only and the largest French Helicopter company in the Oil and Gas industry today. I have been working in the helicopter industry for 30 years, I have seen many other helicopter companies. Heli-Union is one of a few companies that are still standing strong even after more than half a century of service.

 

Heli-Union is currently performing the first ever H725 (now called H225M) Major Overhaul in its 5000m² hangar in Toussus le Noble, where the Headquarters of Heli-Union is located. The H725 Caracal belongs to the French Air Force, is a twin-engine, long-range military transport helicopter.

Heli-Union has been performing periodical checks, repair and overhaul for the French Air Force H725 in the last few years, before being awarded the Major Overhaul contract. The Major Overhaul has started in April 2018.

Pierre Le Gall, Deputy Managing Director of Heli-Union who is in charge of the MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) department commented, “As the leading provider of helicopter MRO services, we are very pleased to have the opportunity from the French Air Force to be the first company in the world to perform Major Overhaul on H725. This shows our ability to evolve and improve, adapting our services to meet the market needs. Our team consists of experienced, skilled and well-motivated engineers, providing the most effective and quality services to our clients. We are looking forward to be working with a wider client database for H725 Major Overhaul service.”