World Helicopters rebrands and expands
World Helicopters, the parent company of INAER and Bond, has announced its relaunch today under the new name of Avincis Mission Critical Services (Avincis Group), billing itself as ‘the world’s leading provider of mission critical aviation services’. The company has also expanded through the purchase of both Australian Helicopters and Norsk Helikopterservice.
World Helicopters, the parent company of INAER and Bond, has announced its relaunch today under the new name of Avincis Mission Critical Services (Avincis Group), billing itself as ‘the world’s leading provider of mission critical aviation services’. The company has also expanded through the purchase of both Australian Helicopters and Norsk Helikopterservice.
The subsidiaries provide a range of aerial services, including search and rescue, fire fighting, aeromedical transport, border patrol and disaster response, and will continue to operate under their existing brand names. A spokesperson for the new company said that due to its enlarged scale (the group operates around 350 rotary-wing and 50 fixed-wing aircraft from 295 bases in 10 countries), the group will be able to identify and implement best practice, and with increased buying power, will be able to reduce costs.
Although still headquartered in London, UK, as part of its relaunch as the Avincis Group, the company has moved into new offices. The Group boasts a global footprint, with bases in the UK, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Norway, Australia, Chile and Peru, and employs almost 3,000 people worldwide. At the end of 2011, its constituent companies had an annual turnover of €521 million, and in that year chalked up more than 3,900 search and rescue missions and over 36,000 air ambulance missions, rescued more than 7,000 people from life-threatening situations, and flew more than 8,800 fire-fighting missions.
James Drummond, Avincis Group chief executive, commented: “Avincis’ ambition is to be recognised as the best provider of mission critical aviation services in the world. The scale and collective expertise of our combined group of businesses is unrivalled. In an industry which is globally fragmented, there is the opportunity, and the need, to define and establish a global standard of operation. Our focus is on safety – zero accidents – operational excellence and cost effectiveness for customers.” He continued: “Around the world, we shall ensure the best resources, human and mechanical, together with the best systems, to give our customers and end users the quality of service they rightly expect and deserve.”
The name Avincis (pronounced A-vin-chiss) has been coined from a combination of Advance and Da Vinci.
Image: INAER, which operates helicopters for the Salvamento Marítimo, Spain, is part of the new Avincis Group (courtesy Avincis)