In the opening session of the Helicopter Investor conference in London today, Milestone Aviation President & CEO Pat Sheedy was interviewed by event host Al Whyte of Specialist Insight.

Sheedy was positive about the helicopter leasing market for the last year since the 2024 conference, and described it as “stable”.

As deliveries in the super medium leasing market are increasing, particularly in oil and gas, Sheedy noted both the Airbus H175 and Leonardo AW189 were building their reputation as the global fleet of each continues to rise, giving credence to this size of helicopter having a strong operational life ahead.  In evidence of this, Milestone Aviation competitor GDHF’s CEO Michael York referred later in the day to his company’s announcement earlier this week of converting ten H175 options to orders.

Whyte then moved the interview with Sheedy on to the Bell 525, another helicopter type in the supermedium market.   This drawing-board-new model continues to await certification, something that the industry has been waiting on for quite a few years now, and will mark Bell’s return to the offshore oil and gas market for the first time since the 214ST was launched 43 years ago in 1982.  Sheedy cited the 525 order placed by Norwegian oil prime Equinor, but expressed his view that Bell have “huge challenges” ahead in getting the 525 to scale, which he considers to be a global lease fleet growing towards 100 units.

When pushed by Whyte as to whether there is space in the leasing market for the third super medium, Sheedy said he cannot see the 525 making a mark.

Looking at the global oil and gas market, Sheedy only identified Brazil as an area of growth. He cited Norway and Australia as having no growth at all, while identifying a trend in the latter with  a move towards super medium types.  Market Intelligence firm Parapex Media reports that there are no super mediums currently flying in the Norwegian market, although the first two AW189s for Equinor are now in flight test at the Leonardo plant in Italy, with MSNs 49111 and 49114 sporting a dark blue and white colour scheme.

The final area the interview covered was the Sikorsky S92, which has had various support issues in the last few years, particularly with main rotor gearboxes.  Milestone Aviation is in a very good place to comment on this market as it owns the world’s largest lease fleet of the type.

Each S92 airframe has as a fixed life of 30,000 hours, according to the TCDS (Type Certificate Data Sheet), where it states “The term “Unlimited Life” is defined as 30 000 flight hours for the model S-92A rotorcraft. Operation of individual aircraft beyond the 30 000 flight hours is contingent upon an approved Life Extension Program“.

Sheedy estimates that this prescribed retirement life will result in a 20-25 year life for S92s in their primary mission. As a way of extending the calendar life of an S92, he sees some airframes moving into alternate roles, particularly firefighting, where the annual flying hours are much lower and thus the cut-off limit stretching out for a few more years.

Having pioneered the use of the S92 as a firefighter, Milestone Aviation are again leasing an aircraft to VIH Helicopters for the 2025 Canadian wildfire season, matching what they did in 2024. Sheedy sees the S92 opening a new option to fire operators, as the aircraft has a dual role – not only dropping water but also providing the ability to transport fire teams to where they are most needed.