In a first for Menzies, a team of ground handlers is working in a remote former Australian Royal Airforce base to support customer Airnorth  and helicopter operator PHI in a unique operation for global energy company INPEX.

The team of five Menzies employees is operating on a ‘fly in, fly out’ basis – spending two weeks working at the base and then two weeks back in Darwin. They were called on to support PHI handling Airnorth (one of Menzies biggest customers at Darwin) fixed wing planes that bring offshore workers to Truscott, before transferring onto helicopters that head out to the rigs in the Timor Sea.

Truscott is in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and is more than 260 miles from Darwin, the nearest Menzies fixed base station. It can only be accessed by air and has been operated as a commercial airport since 2005. Truscott is so remote that the Menzies team can’t leave it during their two week rotation so accommodation and food is provided for them onsite.

Richard Bonner (Regional VP North West Australia), who took the call from the customer asking for help at Truscott, says; “We’re used to running a drive in, drive out (DIDO) operation where the team drives to an isolated airbase and stays there to work for a few days, but this is a new way of working for us. I took the call from a contact at PHI when they realised they’d need support. Coronavirus restrictions meant that PHI and Airnorth were moving their usual operation from another airport to Truscott at short notice, and they needed a handler who could work with fixed wing planes. We stepped up and within just three weeks we had signed the contract and the first Menzies people had flown out.”

It’s not all ground handling though! The Menzies team have been training the PHI teams on handling fixed wing aircraft and in return…our people have been learning about helicopters from the customer.

Feedback so far has been exceptional and Richard and the team are hopeful that Menzies rapid response, onsite training and hard work could pave the way for more fly in, fly out work for Airnorth in the future.

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