CHC CEO
Talks Helicopter Industry Opportunities in 2018
By Woodrow Bellamy III | January 2, 2018
CHC Helicopter President and CEO Karl
Fessenden has a lot to look forward to in 2018. The Texas-based helicopter
operator is flying new helicopters in new regions for the first time —
integrating new cockpit and health monitoring technologies into its operations
and continuing to streamline its fleet and cost structure.
When CHC unveiled its new brand in
2017, one of your statements was that the company will "reach beyond
legacy achievements." How will you continue to "reach beyond" in
2018?
We will continue to reach beyond in
2018 by staying focused on meeting the needs of our customers while further
strengthening our safety culture. We’ve invested in our global fleet with the
introduction of new Airbus H175s in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and
Leonardo AW189s in Asia Pacific, and will continue discussing other options
with current and future customers.
We have also been recognized for
recent innovations such as our testing with Skytrac for a new
real-time health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) and cockpit electronic
flight bag (EFB) solution on a Leonardo AW139 and our APAC
team’s advancement of white phosphor night-vision goggles in
challenging conditions.
CHC Helicopter CEO Karl Fessenden. Photo courtesy
of CHC
What initiatives or actions is CHC
taking to improve safety?
One of our key year-end initiatives
was launching our "Taking Care" safety campaign with employees and
customers. We held stand-down events and briefings at every base during the
month of December with candid discussions on how we can continue to build open
and honest dialogue and further improve safety in all facets of our operation.
As you think about the operations
and services across SAR, EMS, oil and gas transport and maintenance and repair
that CHC Helicopter will provide in 2018, where do you see the biggest demand
for your services?
We are seeing signs of
stabilization, but the market remains challenging. We expect to see new
opportunities for oil and gas transport, renewable energy such as offshore wind
production, search and rescue and emergency medical service needs in current
and emerging markets, and our continued investment in our global maintenance,
repair and overhaul capabilities through Heli-One.
Considering aviation is one of the
most regulated industries in the world across all segments, are there any
particular regulatory issues or challenges you see impacting CHC’s operations
either in the U.S. or globally in 2018 and beyond?
The regulatory picture across the
world is constantly changing, which is why we have a number of key personnel allocated
to roles in tracking these changes both at the regional and global levels.
We recently amended our global
safety management manuals to ensure we continue to be aligned with the latest
thinking from ICAO on both global guidelines to general aviation and on safety
management systems. In the regions, we are seeing changes in Australia —
effectively, bringing EASA and CASA closer together in the way they conduct
regulatory oversight — as well as further developments in Europe in the near
future with the introduction of the Helicopter Offshore Operations (HOFO)
regulations.
The helicopter community also
continues to engage with the fixed-wing aviation community to see where we can
learn from them on areas where regulations have already been implemented. Flight
data monitoring and line operations safety audit (LOSA) are two examples of
activity where we are ahead of the regulatory requirements and show that
regulation is just one aspect of ensuring safety.
We will also continue to focus on
the safety of our people and passengers as well as our industry. We will
continue our close work with regulators and also other operators through our
involvement with Helioffshore to continue to drive safety efforts on a global
scale.
Are there any specific areas of
CHC’s operations and services that you’re focused on improving or expanding
upon in 2018?
While the outlook for our industry
remains challenging, we believe the actions we took in 2017, especially
streamlining our fleet and cost structure to better meet the needs of our
customers, has positioned us for both short- and long-term success. We are now
the only operator that provides a true global standard of excellence based on
best practices gleaned from seven decades of successful operations and a
culture dedicated to taking care of safety for our employees and passengers.
This ensures all of our customers receive the same level of service and
reliability anywhere they need to go. We look forward to continuing to build on
this strong foundation in 2018 and beyond.
