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Private company

Helicopters

Logo: www.hnzglobal.com, Non-free logo, via Wikipedia3

New Zealand-based helicopter operator

Helicopters New Zealand or HNZ was a New Zealand–based helicopter operator serving the oil and gas, EMS and government markets. Operating a mix of light and medium turbine-engined helicopters, it performed helicopter transport and air work for a number of private and government clients across Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and Antarctica.2 It is headquartered in Nelson.1 It is part of Canadian Helicopters.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

  • HeadquartersNelson1

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Helicopters New Zealand or HNZ was a New Zealand–based helicopter operator serving the oil and gas, EMS and government markets. Operating a mix of light and medium turbine-engined helicopters, it performed helicopter transport and air work for a number of private and government clients across Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and Antarctica.2

Corporate structure

Helicopters is part of a group headed by Canadian Helicopters. 2 entities, 2 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

Founded in 1955 in Timaru, New Zealand, Helicopters New Zealand commenced operations with a Bell 47, conducting agricultural operations on the New Zealand South Island. The company grew and started providing helicopter air work services for the Government of New Zealand and oil and gas clients in the 1960s.

In 1992, Helicopters New Zealand bought West Coast Helicopters renaming it Helicopters (Australia) Pty Ltd and obtained a foothold in the Australian Helicopter market.

In 2011, HNZ was purchased by Canadian Helicopters. In 2012, Canadian Helicopters Group Inc., the parent company for Canadian Helicopters and HNZ, changed its name to HNZ Group Inc.

HNZ Group Inc's operations in the Pacific were sold to Petroleum Helicopters International in October 2017. The remainder of HNZ Group Inc. was taken private and continued operations as Canadian Helicopters Limited.

From Wikipedia’s article on Helicopters (NZ), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

Helicopters (NZ) fleet 1955 to 2006

As of April 2012, the HNZ fleet consisted of over 45 aircraft:

15 x Eurocopter AS350 Series

2 x Eurocopter EC135 Series

1 x Eurocopter EC130 Series

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3 x Eurocopter EC145 Series

3 x AgustaWestland AW139 Series

4 x Bell 412 Series

3 x AW109SP

From Wikipedia’s article on Helicopters (NZ), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

From Wikidata.1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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