Airnorth (Australia) (TL, Darwin) has sold an 85% stake in its shareholding to Bristow Helicopters (BHL, Aberdeen Dyce) subsidiary, Bristow Helicopters Australia. Under the terms of the transaction, Airnorth will retain its name and brand identity and will continue to operate under the direction of CEO Michael Bridge. Though Bridge will remain on the Airnorth board of directors, Bristow will appoint three representatives on the board.
“Our new partnership with Bristow Australia will see further expansion for the company and its services to charter clients,” Bridge said. “Airnorth will continue to operate all scheduled passenger services across its current route network without interruption to existing passenger bookings."
The acquisition of Airnorth will enable Bristow Australia to extend its existing operations beyond rotory-wing to include fixed-wing. Bristow currently provides fixed-wing services through its affiliates Eastern Airways (T3, Humberside) in the United Kingdom and Líder Aviação in Brazil, and through its Bristow Helicopters Nigeria (BHN, Lagos) business unit in Nigeria.
“Many of our global clients are requesting a fully integrated passenger service, including travel services, as they seek to refocus on their core business,” said Allan Blake, director of Bristow’s Australia Business Unit. “Recent tenders in Australia have requested fixed-wing services, including arranging travel through Bristow Travel (Australia). The potential exists to reduce client costs associated with travel, accommodation and passenger logistics, by providing fixed-wing plus helicopter solutions to our oil and gas clients.”
As the largest airline operating in Northern Australia, Airnorth’s fixed-wing operations are based out of Darwin, Australia, and include both scheduled and charter services, which focus primarily on the energy and mining industries in northern and western Australia, and international service to Timor-Leste and the Philippines.
