DEN HELDER AIRPORT: Future-Proofing Dutch Offshore Aviation

From its lucrative location in relation both to the primary oil and gas fields as well as both existing and imminent offshore wind farms, Den Helder Airport has been loyally serving the offshore industry for over 50 years. Director Conny van den Hoff’s own tenure has lasted some 30 years and counting, and dates back to the airport’s previous incarnation as Helihaven Den Helder.

“Primarily, we facilitate the helicopter flights to and from the oil and gas platforms in the North Sea, and in the last few years we have also facilitated flights for the offshore wind farms,” she relates of the airport today. “All flights from Den Helder Airport are offshore flights. With our runway being 1275m long we cannot accommodate the Boeings of this world, but we are working on facilitating charter flights for 7-30 passengers to the offshore hubs around the North Sea.

Den Helder Airport is critical in serving the offshore energy industry on the Dutch continental shelf, equipped for the future with all the facilities of an international airport including traffic control, passenger and baggage control systems, terminal building, check-in counters, handling agents and secure parking. “Den Helder Airport is the primary choice for the offshore industry,” van den Hoff says, “in large part thanks to its perfect location in relation to the wind, oil and gas fields that are centrally and in the southern parts of the North Sea.”

UNIQUE OFFSHORE AVIATION CENTRE

Den Helder Airport was founded in the late 1960s and is today the Netherlands’ only all-round offshore aviation centre. In her three decades at Den Helder Airport van den Hoff has observed great change, and great progression, arriving in 1992 with the heliport located in temporary accommodation and its first KLM ERA Helicopters (now CHC Helicopter) hangar having just been inaugurated.

“Then-director, Roel Hijmans, was seconded from KLM ERA Helicopters and was an enthusiastic aviation man,” she recounts. “Together we built the heliport and let it grow into the current offshore airport with international status we see before us. The increase in the number of flight movements, the number of operators and the need for hangar space also increased, and so, in 1993, Schreiner Airways built the second hangar at Den Helder Airport, with the fifth coming in 2010 and plans afoot to add another.

“In the end, the semi-permanent station building also became too small and we built a fully-fledged terminal where passengers and freight are handled, as we are used to at Schiphol,” van den Hoff delineates, and it is true that Den Helder Airport’s efficient connection with the Netherlands’ main international airport Schiphol has been another key factor in its success.

“I actually affectionately call our beautiful airport ‘Schiphol in miniature’,” she laughs, “while we also have a number of extras, such as survival suits that passengers are obliged to wear during the flight by helicopter to the offshore location, a flight safety briefing in a specially designed briefing rooms whereas instructions are normally given by flight attendants, and periodic alcohol and drug checks on offshore passengers.

“Everything you see in a regular airport, we have here in Den Helder Airport, and when Roel Hijmans started enjoying a well-deserved retirement at the end of 2008, we had built up a fully-fledged airport, having grown from the three original helispots to 12 and where approximately 500 people work and 32 companies are located.”

Quadrupling the helipad capacity is only one incredible development during van den Hoff’s time at Den Helder Airport. “Another is in terms of the helicopter operators we have at the facility,” she beams. “We started with one, and in the ensuing years we have added, Bel Air, NHV and Heli Holland and recently Bristow was added for operating the new Search And Rescue contract – outfits of international renown – and all with great expertise in offshore oil, gas and wind operations such as platforms, offshore oil rigs, windfarms, ships and other vessels.”

All hangars are full, at present, van den Hoff explains, which alongside her innate desire and infectious passion to accommodate absolutely everyone possible has entailed the drawing up of plans for the next hangar. “I cannot sell ‘no’,” she explains, “everybody is welcome and I want to establish everyone who wishes to join us at Den Helder Airport.”

WIND AT SEA EXPANSION

This ethos of embracing change, and actively promoting and welcoming developments and new ideas and influences, has served Den Helder supremely well during its long lifetime and will plainly be integral to securing a long and prosperous future. As the effect of agreements covering climate change mitigation, adaptation and finance begins to radically change the energy system not only in the Netherlands, but the entire world, as we approach 2050, the 22,500 large wind turbines due to populate the North Sea will ultimately supply a large part of the European energy demand.

“The energy transition is therefore of vital important for the future of Den Helder Airport,” van den Hoff clarifies. “The modern offshore helicopter has been proven to be clean, safe and extremely efficient and will always remain a logical, but also sustainable choice for the transport of technicians and small cargo.”

In preparation for the upcoming roll-out of large-scale offshore wind farms in the North Sea,

Den Helder Airport has stepped up as founder and prominent member of the European North Sea Heliports Alliance (NSHA), consisting of the six main offshore airports of five European countries around the North Sea, which together are responsible for facilitating the transport of more than one million passengers per year.

According to the alliance members, the NSHA is poised to become a platform for European offshore helicopter airfields through which governments, energy companies, ports and industrial areas are able to contribute to developing sustainable and safe helicopter services for the offshore wind market.

“Due to fluctuating oil and gas prices, as well as the policies of the Dutch government, it is expected that the offshore wind sector will continue to develop in the countries surrounding the North Sea,” recognised Den Helder Airport business development manager Nick Waterdrinker. “Not only for the construction of wind farms at sea, but also for maintenance and supply in the future, helicopter flights will be needed.”

“The market demand is for more cost-effective helicopter services and greater expertise. In the energy sector there is a clear transition towards offshore wind and we, as the largest heliport in the Netherlands and third largest in Western Europe, want to offer broader and more cost-effective services for the offshore wind market in the North Sea,” summed up van den Hoff.

With the Dutch government implementing 10 GW of additional wind energy off the North Sea coast, totalling 21 GW by 2030, this region boasting a complete ecosystem for the offshore wind sector faces major opportunities and challenges. “With the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, we are fully committed to developing this new market for Den Helder Airport as well,” van den Hoff rounds off. “Not only by facilitating helicopters for the wind farms that are currently being built at a rapid pace off the Dutch coast, but also by facilitating Drones and flights with electric airplanes between several offshore airports in the United Kingdom and Denmark and the emerging market.”