| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Airline |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Staverton, England, United Kingdom |
| Subsidiaries | Bond Air Services Bond Offshore Helicopters |
| Website | bondairservices.com bondoffshorehelicopters.com |
Bond Aviation Group is a large British helicopter operator based at Gloucestershire Airport, Staverton. It incorporates Bond Air Services and Bond Offshore Helicopters. They are one of the largest operators of helicopters in the UK.
Both Bond Air Services and Bond Offshore hold a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type B Operating Licence, and they are permitted to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with less than 20 seats.[1]
Bond mainly operates Eurocopter aircraft.
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Founded in the late 1960s by David Bond they first entered the offshore transport industry in 1972, providing helicopters mainly in support of offshore oil and gas operations. By the late 1990s, Bond operated a fleet of over 200 helicopters. In 1995 the business was merged with Helikopter Service Group of Norway.
The present group organisation was formed in 1999 when Bond was acquired from Helikopter Service Group.
In 2001, Bond Offshore Helicopters Limited was formed in Aberdeen, Scotland to take advantage of the booming North Sea oil and gas, crew replacement requirement. 2002 saw BP award Bond Offshore the largest ever offshore helicopter transport service contract, worth £120 million, to provide all of their Aberdeen based helicopter support operations. This part of the group now employs 250 people and has a forecast turnover of £59m.[2]
In addition to the oil and gas industry service contract, Bond also operates a Search & Rescue operation in the North Sea.
Fleet
Bond Air Services is the largest operator of Air Ambulance and Police aviation units in the UK [2]. Using mainly Eurocopter EC-135 and Bolkow BO-105 helicopters, they operate from 17 bases around the UK and have 2 headquarters, Staverton and Glasgow.