Oil and gas aviation company appoints former GDF officer as Area Manager

Courtney Byrne
Courtney Byrne

Bristow Group Inc of the UK has appointed retired Guyana Defence Force (GDF) officer Courtney Byrne as its Area Manager here.

Bristow has been mainly engaged here in providing helicopter services for oil and gas operations.

A release on Wednesday from Bristow said that in this position, Byrne will work closely with Bristow customers and across the company to deliver world-class service as it grow its operations in Guyana and foster relationships in the local community. He will manage the day-to-day operations and will be responsible for ensuring the safety of the team and passengers while also ensuring that customer service delivery expectations are met.

The release said that Byrne joined the Guyana Defence Force in 1993 as an officer cadet and work-ed his way up the ranks as co-pilot, pilot, flight operations officer and flight operations manager, retiring as Commanding Offi-cer of the Guyana Defence Force Air Corps with 28 years of military experience.  The release said that he has an airline transport pilot licence, a commercial pilot licence with instrument rating on helicopters issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) respectively and is a Transport Canada / GCAA approved check airman. He has over 3,500 hours of total flight time. 

“Courtney brings decades of aviation expertise and passion that will help us provide safe, reliable and efficient service to Guyana. He is committed to providing great support to our customers as well as growing our business in the region. He is also committed to fostering strong relations in the local community and ensuring our operations are sustainable. As the only operator in the region, we are committed to maintaining our role as the global leader in vertical flight,” said Samantha Willenbacher, Senior Vice President, Americas.

“I look forward to working with Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited and other customers in the region as we provide the safest, most efficient vertical lift solutions in the area. It is an exciting time for the offshore industry and the growth in the region is a strong positive that is good for Bristow, our customers and the citizens of Guyana,”  Byrne was quoted as saying.

The release said that Bryne also served as a Board member of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation and the GCAA and previously worked at the GCAA as an Air Traffic Control Assis-tant and Airport Duty Officer.

Bristow Group Inc describes itself as a global provider of vertical flight solutions.