Pawan Hans for ONGC helicopter contracts
As expected, ONGC subsidiary Pawan Hans is set to receive ONGC’s contract to hire eight crew-change helicopters for the western offshore, despite safety concerns.
When ONGC opened price bids on March 14 (2024), Pawan Hans bid the lowest in the crew change helicopter category against rivals Global Vectra and Heligo Charters. Pawan Hans has offered ten Advanced Light Helicopter MK III (ALH MK III) or Dhruv helicopters for $6476/hour each.
ONGC needs eight helicopters for crew change operations for ten years. Against that, Global Vectra’s evaluated rate/hour was $7352 for each of 19 crew change helicopters (four Bell 412 machines, nine Airbus H160 machines and six AgustaWestland AW139 machines).
Heligo’s evaluated rate/hour was $7635 for each of the four Bell 412 helicopters. ONGC also needs one helicopter for production operations for ten years.
Pawan Hans did not bid in this category, whereas Heligo bid the lowest with an Airbus H145 helicopter at $5053/hour. Against that, Global Vectra’s evaluated rate/hour was $5251 for one AgustaWestland AW169 helicopter.
Pawan Hans’s offer of Dhruv helicopters produced by Bengaluru-based state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics aligns with the government’s policy to boost domestic products. A rival contractor stresses that Pawan Hans managed to bid low because Dhruv helicopters have no import tariffs or mobilisation costs, unlike foreign-made helicopters from Heligo and Global.
But he claims Dhruv helicopters have a low "serviceability ratio’ or lots of downtime for maintenance. ONGC typically allows each helicopter three days/month as a paid maintenance holiday and wants each hired helicopter available for 90% of the contract duration.
"Dhruv helicopters are used by (Indian) defence forces and the coast guard," adds our source. He claims the "serviceability ratio’ of Dhruv helicopters is 60% against 90% for Bell, Airbus, AgustaWestland and other foreign-made helicopter models that ONGC hires.
More than 360 Dhruv helicopters have been manufactured in different variants. Military aviation regulator CEMILAC certified Dhruv helicopters for combat use in 2003, and the civil aviation regulator DGCA certified them for civilian use in 2004.