Taking a Leading Role in Future of Advanced Air Mobility

From saving lives at sea to ferrying workers safely to and from some of the most challenging work environments, Bristow Group is trusted by governments and energy giants around the world to provide mission-critical services. Now we are combining more than seven decades of expertise with some of aviation’s most exciting and potentially disruptive new technologies to expand our offering to customers and open new markets.

Bristow is one of the industry’s foremost vertical-lift operators with more than 200 helicopters and a network of operations from Nigeria to Brazil.

We are actively pursuing, and influencing, the newest generation of aircraft that will revolutionize air mobility. Collectively called Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), these technologies are available in a range from electric to hybrid. We view these new technologies as complementing our existing fleet, not as providing direct replacements for traditional rotorcraft.

Bristow has forged strategic partnerships with many of these start-up ventures, with deals for close to 400 next-generation aerial platforms from seven developers. Our strategic partners include BETA Technologies, Electra.aero, Elroy Air, Eve Air Mobility, Lilium, Overair, and Vertical Aerospace. These partners represent a diverse range of emerging aircraft designs, propulsion technologies, mission capabilities, and applications.

AAM promises to move people and cargo quickly, safely, and quietly at a remarkably reduced cost and low carbon footprint -- a powerful opportunity to accelerate sustainability within our industry.

Not all the next generation platforms Bristow is committing to are from new developers. We are a launch customer for Leonardo Helicopters’ AW609 tiltrotor, the first civil aircraft to combine elements of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Although Bristow has plenty of experience introducing new types, including the Leonardo AW139 and Sikorsky S-92, the arrival of the AW609 will open a new chapter in vertical flight by offering vertical versatility and long-range capability.

We’ve built an early adoption model that is centered on the ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach. Early adoption shouldn’t be constrained by a lack of charging networks or vertiports – we need to use what we already have in place today to prove the concept. And Bristow is uniquely positioned to do just that. Our belief is that a successful early adoption model for a new technology is probably in a business-to-business setting.

This might look like Bristow as the operator, one or more of our OEM partners, the end customer, and then jointly engaging early and often with all the relevant stakeholders – whether they’re a municipal government, city planner, airport authority, or otherwise – and build the operation out incrementally from there.

In that model, Bristow and its partners understand that, at this early stage, there are going to be issues and hiccups, but there is a way to back it up with traditional rotorcraft. With that in place, it’s about bringing in these new systems and working in collaboration with an industrial partner that has the desire to be sustainable, and can potentially reduce costs, as the first model of adoption.

Our internal research also suggests that one regional air mobility model operating at full scale that covers a region such as the Florida peninsula could take as many pilots and engineers to support it as our entire global company today. That’s a huge workforce challenge. Pilot recruitment and training will be a critical factor limiting uptake. We hope that simplified vehicle operations and early experience in OEM simulators will ease training to fly the new generation of aircraft and shorten the path to proficiency that has historically been required for traditional rotorcraft. If regulatory pathways can be agreed, the sector should be able to recruit the huge numbers of pilots likely to be required.

“There are lessons learned in aviation that can only be learned through operational experience. Operators like Bristow are best positioned to be the integration point where these revolutionary aircraft and the evolution of safe operations intersect.”

Something Bristow and other experienced operators know well is that newly certified aircraft will absolutely be exposed to rigors and environments and a pace and scale of flights in commercial operations that they did not experience in flight testing. It will be the operator’s duty to demonstrate - in the real world - safe and reliable initial operations with these aircraft. We must demonstrate that point to ourselves first, and then the regulators and public will get on board.

Regulations are the minimum standard, but no sophisticated air carrier operates to the minimum standard – they go well beyond it. Early and successful operations with these new aircraft are going be a crucial part of the process. We must use this time to demonstrate to the public that this is a safe and efficient mode of transportation.

Safety in operating aircraft is evolutionary. There are lessons learned in aviation that can only be learned through operational experience. Operators like Bristow are best positioned to be the integration point where these revolutionary aircraft and the evolution of safe operations intersect.

Bristow is firmly part of the AAM advance guard, but it is not neglecting its core markets of offshore transport, search and rescue (SAR), and government support. The company has been supplying SAR services to governments and the oil and gas industry since 1971, and has operations in, among others, Norway, Suriname, Trinidad, the U.K., and the U.S. Bristow is also in the Canadian market through a partnership with Cougar Helicopters.

In 2022, Bristow secured two major pieces of business. In November, Bristow began a 10-year contract with the Netherlands Coastguard, providing round-the-clock SAR from bases at Den Helder and Midden Zeeland airports, each equipped with AW189s. In July, we were awarded a new 10-year deal with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the UK, where we are the incumbent SAR supplier. Six AW139s will shortly join our fleet, adding to nine AW189s and three S-92s retained from the current contract.

Since the post-war era, energy companies and governments have relied on Bristow’s “no mission too complicated” approach to providing safety-first services. The company’s willingness to invest in a big way on the technologies of tomorrow has added a new dimension to one of the most recognized helicopter brands. It could make it even more of a fitting career choice for those who want to play a key part in the next evolution of aviation.