Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS) shares have been on a steady decline in the past week, following news of a helicopter crash outside of Bergen, Norway.
Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS) shares were down 10.91% to $14.53 on Friday, chalking up more than a 27% decline for the month. Share prices dropped sharply on May 2, as news of a Airbus Helicopters EC225LP or H225 model helicopter crash broke out. The aircraft was carrying 11 passengers and two crew members at the time of the accident and 13 fatalities were reported.
The actual helicopter that crashed was operated by another company but the accident impacted air transportation shares across the board. Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS) is a provider of helicopter services to the offshore energy industry with global operations in the North Sea, Nigeria and the United States Gulf of Mexico, and in most of the other offshore energy producing regions of the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Russia and Trinidad.
The company operates a total of 227 H225 model helicopters worldwide, including five units in Norway, 13 in the United Kingdom, and nine in Australia. After the crash, The Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority issued a safety directive on April 29, 2016, requiring operators to suspend public transport flights and commercial air transport operations of all Airbus Helicopters EC225LP model aircraft registered in, or flying in or offshore of Norway.
Still, the directive allowed the operation of continued search and rescue flights of the affected aircraft in Norway for the purpose of saving life, keeping one H225 helicopter of Bristow Group Inc (NYSE:BRS) running in Norway. However, he United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority also issued a safety directive on April 29, 2016, requiring operators to suspend public transport flights and commercial air transport operations of all Airbus Helicopters EC225LP model aircraft registered in, or flying in or offshore of, the United Kingdom so all the 13 units of Bristow Group was grounded there.
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