Blueway Group takes delivery of another EC225

Eurocopter has delivered the
third of four EC225 helicopters which are scheduled to be delivered to the
Blueway Group in 2012. These helicopters are all planned to be operated in the North Sea for the company.

The new EC225s in offshore
crew change configuration are operated out of Esbjerg, Denmark,
by DanCopter, a 100% owned subsidiary of Blueway Group in the frame of a contract
awarded by the Danish company Maersk Oil & Gas, which began on July of this
year.

The addition of these
19-passenger EC225 helicopters to Blueway’s offshore fleet, which has
previously been comprised of medium sized helicopters in the 11 to 13 seat
range, including Eurocopter’s EC155, marks the beginning of the company’s operations
in the heavy segment.

“The arrival of this
aircraft type – one of the largest in the Eurocopter range – to Blueway’s fleet
represents an important milestone in the devolvement of this fast growing
company,” said Dominique Maudet, Eurocopter’s executive vice president global
business and services. “Considering the experience and high degree of
professionalism of both Blueway and Dancopter, in combination with Eurocopter’s
close support, I have no doubt that the introduction of these new EC225s will
also be a grand success. Eurocopter wishes both companies all the best with
their increasing scope of operations, and will be very happy to accompany them
on this challenging and interesting path.”

Blueway and Dancopter have
recently been awarded two new contracts for offshore operations with Shell out
of Den Helder, Netherlands,
and Norwich, England, which require 4 to 5 of
Eurocopter’s medium weight EC155s. In addition, DanCopter, in a joint venture
with Caverton Helicopter of Nigeria,
has successfully performed crew change operations for Shell in Nigeria since
2010. Blueway is also the first helicopter operator in the world to sign an
international Enterprise Framework Agreement for offshore flight operations
with Shell.

Johnny Skoglund, chief
executive of the Blueway Group said: “The contracts with Shell and Maersk
represent important milestones in the realization of the Blueway Group’s growth
strategy. The operations for Shell in Nigeria since 2010 have
demonstrated our ability to establish and run a world class operation anywhere
in the world with a short leadtime. Several contracts on the Norwegian
Continental Shelf, to begin in 2014 and 2015 are in the tendering process and
have a heavy, 19-passenger helicopter requirement. With the new contracts in
our home market in the North Sea, we represent
a true challenge to competitors in the offshore crew change market.”