Uni-Fly has been contracted to assist the support vessel MSV Seawell with crew change flights in the Gulf of Cadiz as an oil major carries out exploration work there. The Danish-headquartered operator has been flying an AW169 from Jerez Airport for this contract.  The aircraft left its UK base at Humberside on 25th March for its ferry flight south to Spain.

The contract has been in effect since the end of March and is anticipated to run until the end of May, subject to customer extension as required.

Meanwhile, Uni-Fly has also been providing ad hoc flight support from Norwich to the Hewett gas field installation.

These short-term contracts are seen as a new push by Uni-Fly into the oil and gas market. The company is fully compliant with the IOGP 690 standard for such flights, and are also members of the Heli-Offshore safety focused organisation. With UK and EASA Air Operator Certificates and a fleet of four offshore equipped Leonardo AW169s, they are well placed to support offshore work in both the oil & gas and windfarm markets throughout Europe.

The offshore market is seeing an interesting new angle as well.  As the requirement for carbon reduction increases, new oil & gas projects may only gain future governmental approval if they are tied in with windfarm development.