Bristow Helicopters have confirmed redundancies to pilots in their offshore oil/gas fleet.  It is worth noting that this dos not affect the SAR fleet – which comes under “Government Services” in the company structure.

Bristow confirmed to HeliHub.com that “changes to demand require us to make amendments to our Offshore Energy Services’ workforce structure. We anticipate that fewer than 15 flight crew roles will be affected and will continue to look for ways to reduce the impacts. We are working closely with all our colleagues affected by this news and are committed to a fair, transparent, and supportive process. We remain focused on strengthening the business, actively pursuing new opportunities, and delivering the best level of service in the North Sea.”

Other industry sources are telling us that 7 senior pilots and 7 co-pilots are affected, all at Aberdeen.

Market Intelligence firm Parapex Media report that Bristow’s Offshore Energy Services fleet in the UK consists of 11 Sikorsky S92s, of which only 9 are airworthy.  One has not flown in nearly 11 months, and another for over 5 months.