Lease Corporation International’s (LCI) helicopter division took off this week with its first delivery of a new AW139 helicopter to Bond Offshore Helicopters (Bond) in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The delivery follows the agreement of a long term lease between LCI and Bond’s parent company Avincis Group – a leading global provider of mission critical services.

The 15-seat, twin-engined helicopter will be operated by Bond to provide offshore crew change support for the BW Offshore (UK) Limited Floating Production Storage and Offtake vessel at the Athena field. BW Offshore maintains production at the field on behalf of Ithaca Energy.

The delivery marks the first aircraft service entry for LCI’s new helicopter division, which was launched in 2012 with a $400m order for a mixed fleet of AgustaWestland AW139, AW169 and AW189 helicopters.

LCI (www.lciaviation.com) is owned by Libra Group (www.libra.com), an international business group with companies operating from 25 offices across four continents. Libra Group’s subsidiaries are primarily focused on aviation, shipping, hospitality, energy and real estate.

Avincis is a leading provider of aerial services for mission-critical operations such as medical emergency, civil protection, search & rescue, coast and city surveillance, fire fighting and energy support services. Based in the UK, the Group provides central resources, safety and operating standards and systems and expertise to its operating companies who serve local markets and customers in Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Chile, Peru, UK, Norway, Australia and Ireland. Of primary importance is the Group’s oversight of safety standards across all its operations, with a global target of zero accidents. In 2012, the Group flew over 108,500 hours. www.avincisgroup.com