On Friday the 23rd of November we celebrated our appointment as New Zealand’s Bell Customer Service Facility (CSF) with a launch event held at our Ardmore facility.

The turnout exceeded our expectations with a great cross-section of the industry attending, including Bell owners, operators and maintenance providers. Chris Schaefer, Dan McQuestin and Peter Empson traveled from Australia and Singapore representing Bell Helicopters and showing support from the Australian CSF’s were Damien Dew (Heliwest Group) and Alex Spence (Sikorsky Australia).

Spearheading this initiative was our Commercial Manager MRO, Peter Hatley who addressed the crowd with gratitude and confidence for the future.

“I hope this will not only be a great partnership with Bell but will be great for helicopter aviation in New Zealand. We have been working toward this goal for some time and am grateful for the trust Bell is putting in our team to provide aftermarket service and support. At present this includes field maintenance and component overhaul for all Bell 206A/B and 206L aircraft in New Zealand, but we will be working with Bell to add other Bell types to our register”, he said.

While our guests enjoyed the nibbles and drinks, our helipad hosted two Bell 429s, a Bell 427, Bell 505 and a Bell 206L.

“We are confident the appointment of Oceania Aviation will enhance our aftermarket support for our customers in New Zealand,” said Chris Schaefer, General Manager, Bell Asia.

With over 100 Authorised Customer Service Facilities around the globe, we are thrilled to be one of them and look forward to what the future holds for our Bell customers.