This is a list of helicopter airlines. These are notable airlines which provide transport for passengers or cargo, or both, with fleets that comprise a significant proportion of helicopters.
Helicopter airlines
In operation
Defunct or renamed
Services offered
Some companies focus solely on winning ongoing contracts in a single industry sector, such as oil & gas. Other companies cater to a wider range of clients by offering one-off charter flights on an ad hoc basis. Services can include:
- Aid â disaster relief, humanitarian aid
- Agriculture â crop dusting, game monitoring, hydroseeding, livestock mustering, pest control, wildlife management
- Firefighting â helicopter bucket, helitack
- Flight training
- Forestry â heli-logging, stream restoration
- Freight â aerial crane, airdrop; general cargo and mail delivery in remote areas
- Industrial â construction, inspection and maintenance of overhead power lines, pipelines, mobile phone towers, offshore wind farms, hydropower facilities, and other infrastructure
- Maritime â pilot transfer and other ship-to-shore transport
- Medical â air ambulance, medical evacuation
- Military â aeromedical evacuation, pilot training; airlift, vertical replenishment and other logistical support
- Oil & gas â transporting crews to and from offshore platforms
- Passenger â VIP & corporate charter; scheduled flights from remote areas
- Photography â aerial photography, archaeology, film production, photogrammetry, television news reporting
- Science â water sampling, wildlife monitoring, snow radar, support to research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic
- Search & rescue â air-sea rescue, mountain rescue
- Surveillance â border control, coast guard, police
- Survey â aeromagnetic, mineral exploration, reflection seismology
- Tourism â sightseeing tours, heliskiing
Other helicopter companies
These are companies which do not qualify as airlines, strictly speaking, because they specialise in services other than the transport of passengers and cargo.
See also