These are not the best of times for Caverton Helicopters Limited as the aviation company is said to be undergoing serious financial troubles.
Caverton Helicopters was in the news for the wrong reasons in 2019 when one its choppers conveying Nigeria’s vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, crashed in Kogi State, but today, the company, a subsidiary of Caverton Offshore Support Group PLC (COSG) – a leading provider of marine, aviation and logistics services to local and international oil and gas companies in Nigeria – has bigger issues of survival to worry about, having been hit by the financial crisis which has prompted a mass exit of staff members including key pilots.
The exit of IOCs may indeed have robbed Caverton of major clients’ base, but there are indications that the company’s challenges go beyond this fact.
According to a report by Westernpost.ng, sources in the know say Caverton has, in the last three months, lost about 20 of its best pilots to an apparently healthier industry rival, OAS Helicopters, which is reported to have won ExxonMobil aviation contract recently.
OAS, offering better salary packages, industry sources say, has been able to poach most of Caverton’s best hands who had hitherto been owed several months of salary areas by the struggling firm whose key challenge many say, is down to poor management. A top aviation source told the platform that the company is run as like family business without due regard to basic rules of corporate governance.
The exit of competent hands have yet caused the company more troubles. There are now perhaps safety issues, which is said to be costing, too, having allegedly prompted Shell Petroleum Development Company, its major client to suspend its multimillion dollars contract until its team is satisfied that the company is back in good financial state, sources said.
Western Post reported that real trouble began for Caverton when it started delaying payment of staff salary, most especially those of pilots who are critical to the operation of any aviation company.
“Caverton is not finding things easy and the have lost a large chunk of their pilots,” an aviation source told Western Post.
“The problem may be around mismanagement because there is no reason why a company handling a Shell contract that is worth over $1bn dollars should be in the kind of financial quagmire Caverton is currently in.
“For over four months now, they cannot hire new pilots to replace those that left. This is a major red flag for a company that is working with Shell, an IOC that does not joke with health and safety. Everything in oil exploration and production is about HSE. It did not come to anyone as a surprise that Shell suspended Caverton’s contract,” the source said.
Confirming the veracity of the status of Caverton’s contract with Shell to Western Post, Communications, Media and NGO Relations Manager for Shell companies in Nigeria, Mr. Bamidele Odugbesan, said it was true that Caverton helicopters was going through a kind of operational audit.
“Not all the services of the airline are affected. We are however working with Caverton to address areas of concern in the overall interest of the safety of our staff and contractors,” the medium quoted him to have said.
A helicopter pilot who is conversant with developments at Caverton also disclosed to the platform that the aviation service provider is using AW139 helicopter for its Shell contract and not all pilots are type-rated to fly the machine.
“We cannot entirely blame Caverton helicopters for any pilot that left. Fact is people will always move to the next employer that pays better. Whether Caverton is experiencing cash crunch or not people will move,” he said.
“What Caverton needs to do is to employ pilots and train them to be rated to fly AW139. Caverton has the training centre in Nigeria in partnership with CAE, a Canadian firm.
“The centre is in Lagos and was recently certified as a world-class training facility by European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). To train and be certified to fly AW139 in South Africa or United States is about $50,000.
“The training takes about three to six months for pilots already rated on other types of helicopters. It is just a conversion programme. There are pilots who are out of job and don’t have money for the training.
“Caverton Helicopters should employ these pilots, train them and put them on bond to pay back the cost of their training over time and they will be back with the right manpower to deliver on their contract,” he advised.
Caverton Helicopters put out an advert asking for qualified pilot to apply to fill existing vacancies but three months after, the process has not been completed.
In 2010, Caverton helicopters announced it won a multi-year contract for the operation of six helicopters for Shell. The company currently has, in its fleet, 9 AW139 helicopters.
Caverton in 2015, announced that Shell had exercised contract extension options for another two years which should have expired in 2017. It is possible Shell granted another extension that allows Caverton to still be active on the contract till date.
Not long ago, Caverton took some media executives on guided tour of its European Union Aviation Safety Agency accredited training centre located at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. The company is an official full flight simulator operator. The EASA certification was granted on Thales Level D, Reality H full-flight simulator product for the AW139 helicopter.
Developed in France, the AW139 Full Flight Simulator offers pilots an immersive experience with extremely faithful reproduction of their operational missions, to train in complete safety for a variety of complex situations, including adverse weather conditions, helicopter failures and emergencies that could occur in the real flight operations.