Problems with Super Puma aircraft have cost Bond Offshore Helicopters more than £4million in the past year, it has emerged.
Accounts filed with Companies House have revealed that issues with the EC225 model of the aircraft wiped just under £4.2million from the firm’s bottom line in 2012.
Profits at the aviation company have slumped as a result – from £7.4million before tax in 2011 to just £2.7million last year – from a turnover of £96million.
The EC225 model was banned from flying over water after gear-shaft failures led to two ditchings in the North Sea last year.
A spokesman for the firm said that new contract wins this year were helping them put 2012 behind them
“Despite the suspension of the EC225, Bond Offshore Helicopters had stable revenues and margin in 2012, and a contract renewal rate of over 95%,” he said.
“Bond Offshore continues to have a strong record of new customer wins in 2013, which have resulted in an increase in backlog of around 30%.
“We continue to invest in world-leading systems, people and processes to drive our continuing improvement. In 2013 we also continued to diversify our offshore fleet, including introducing S92s, and are now operating five different models in the North Sea”.
The problems with EC225s first emerged in May last year when a Bond-operated Super Puma went down just 15 minutes into its flight with 14 men on board.
The pilots sent out a mayday, but ditched soon afterwards. The helicopter had been on its way to Conoco-Phillips’ Jasmine field and was due to drop off workers at the Maersk Resilient and Ensco 102 rigs.
Just five months later, 19 people had to be rescued after another EC225 went down 14 miles west of Fair Isle, between Orkney and Shetland.
The CHC-operated helicopter had been flying from Aberdeen to the West Phoenix drilling rig on behalf of Total when it got into trouble in thick fog.
Super Puma manufacturer Eurocopter has since introduced a series of new measures aim to prevent and detect gear-shaft cracks on the EC225.
The aircraft manufacturer said that moisture in the gear system had created the cracks which led to last year’s ditchings, so an oil jet lubrication system had been modified to tackle the issue.
All EC225s will also be fitted with vibration sensors which would notify pilots if a crack was starting to appear, giving them enough warning of the problem to avoid a ditching. Pilots will be given fresh training on how to use the measures.
They returned to service earlier this year.