A United Arab Emirates-based helicopter company, Abu Dhabi Aviation (ADA), has entered into partnership with OAS Helicopters to invest in the Nigerian oil and gas aviation.
The arrival of ADA’s 15-seater full offshore equipped helicopter AW-139 marked A6-AWH at OAS’ new terminal at the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) base in Port Harcourt recently completed the take off of ADA-AS relationship which had been undergoing technical and legal structuring since 2015.
In the relationship, ADA is coming with long years of successful oil and gas helicopter support experiences which began in 1976 and has grown over the years with more than 60 aircraft in its operation and over 1,000,000 flight hours supporting oil and gas exploration in the Middle East, Brazil, Spain, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.
“ADA had always wanted to invest in Nigeria but had searched and waited to find a reliable and resilient partner which eventually clicked with OAS’ history and ability to remain firm in operation for over ten years despite daunting challenges.
“With the level of implementation on the proposed business plan so far, we are quite confident that OAS and ADA partnership will enrich the Nigeria oil and gas aviation. Important to our success over the years has been an ever increasing engagement with strategic partners worldwide in the formation of healthy Joint Ventures that support oil and gas exploration in the deepest possible offshore with impeccable safety records,” said ADA’s AFB contracts manager, Kevin Den Hertog.
The helicopter company’s Nigeria operations lead pilot, Capt. Westwood James, also said the ADA-OAS technical partnership was structurally designed to guarantee and deliver credible, safe and stable services in the Nigerian oil and gas aviation.
“We are here in Nigeria to drive the design to excellence,” he added.
On its part, the managing director and chief executive officer of OAS, Capt Evarest Nnaji, said the practical kick-off of the partnership, landmarked by the arrival and the physical presence of ADA crew and equipment “is one investment step the Nigeria aviation will enjoy moving forward, especially in the area of oil and gas aircraft support services.”
“We looked at ADA’s capacity to play at the highest echelon in the oil and gas aviation support and their ability and willingness to build and transfer know-how in all the other international environments where they operate, and concluded that not only is ADA valuable to huge business profitability, but that they are equally reputable for reliable and consistent long term business relationship. “Their safety record, volume of investment and ability to deliver excellent services even in the most difficult environment speaks for itself,” said Nnaji.
He added that the helicopter company’s desire to provide services that meet international standard for the Nigerian oil and gas aviation had was the force behind the relationship with ADA.
