Industry Support

The British Helicopter Association was formed in January 1969 at the instigation of some leading members of the helicopter industry in the UK, who realised that there was no single authoritative voice speaking for the whole helicopter industry similar to other organisations which represent other major aviation interests. At that time helicopter activity in support of the North Sea off-shore oil operation was beginning to expand rapidly.

The BHA is a non-profit making organisation, whose main objective is to promote the use of helicopters throughout the country and to bring to the attention of potential users the advantages of using or owning a helicopter. It is also concerned that helicopter operations are conducted safely and responsibly and that proper attention is paid to environmental issues. These objectives are pursued by liaison with government departments, local authorities, the Civil Aviation Authority, public services, private industry and exchange of information with other helicopter organisations outside the UK. BHA encourages moves towards European harmonisation through its membership of the European Helicopter Association.

Formed on 1 January 1981, the European Helicopter Association is a non-profit making association whose basic aim is to promote the free flow of commercial and private helicopter traffic between European countries by the standardization of realistic operating legislation.
The EHA will not approach any national government body as a pressure group. Instead it encourages each member country to set up a national helicopter association (or to have a major helicopter operator as a national coordinator) which will work with its own national authority towards acceptance of EHA’s policies. In this way, it is hoped to remove the legislative anomalies and to achieve a realistic degree of freedom, while fully acknowledging safety and environmental issues.