Era in ANC for sale......

[ILStoMinimums]

Hey everybody,

What do you all think of Era Aviation going up for sale? From what I understand so far 3 groups have looked at it, some native corporation up here, Alaska Air Gruop and some Canadian Heli. Company. I understand there is going to be around 7 other tours within the next couple of weeks.
Any comments on this? This might be a very good thing for the company - it sure could use some attrition and movement!

Comments??

 

[OtterFO]

If someone buys, hopefully they can get the ramp service turnover under control.

 

[jobear]

The whole company or just the Alaska operations?

I'm from the Gulf coast of Louisiana and grew up watching those Helo drivers run out to the Oil and Gas Platforms...

Jobear
Okay, I'm up early where the heII is the worm?

 

[ILStoMinimums]

The entire company - believe it or not. And I don't believe they will split the FW and RW divisions.

 

[low&slow]

Where have you heard this from? I can't find any news about a sale.

 

[ILStoMinimums]

Check www.eraaviator.com , its more inside company news for now.

 

[Twotter76]

Yes this is in fact true from my sources within the company - however my information was that Rowan was only looking to sell the fixed wing division and not the rotary wing stuff. I heard a very low figure for it as well which doesnt suprise me - they have been looking to spin off the fixed wing side for years. You could probably call the front desk and just ask and they would likely confirm it for you.

 

[ILStoMinimums]

Yes this is in fact true from my sources within the company - however my information was that Rowan was only looking to sell the fixed wing division and not the rotary wing stuff. I heard a very low figure for it as well which doesnt suprise me - they have been looking to spin off the fixed wing side for years. You could probably call the front desk and just ask and they would likely confirm it for you.

Well this topic has been talked about inside. And from what I understand Rown doesn't really want to split the two divisions if possible. Also, they haven't decided if they will sell it or not, I believe they will make the final decision when all the bids come in from potential buyers.
I've heard some BIG rumors even like SKW looking at it!

 

[ILStoMinimums]

Nothing yet, I did talk to one of our SOF's and he said that Serie (I'm sure I spelled that wrong - I'm talking about the big native corporation up here) and he said it would be awesome for them to purchase us, they've got the money to pretty much replace all the Dash 8's with newer ones. They've got money to write a check for 20 RJ's (-200's) and possibly even start competing up here (lets not start a war on that )

They've pretty much have a very good history - 10 yrs ago I believe they invested into a company up here (believe it was GCI) and had someting like 980 million profit!
Suppossedly July 23 is the day Rown Drilling will decide if they will retain Era or not - but I think they've had lots of those deadlines before and they just can't come to a conclusion.

Anyways we'll see............

 

[belchfire]

Please tell me that noone from
the Nashville, TN area came
up to look!

 

[AK737FO]

580's Rock

Alaska Air group is NOT in the mix of potential buyers. That rumor has been around a while, mostly propagated by ERA employees who WISH it was true. Officially, Rowan is doing research on ERA's fair market value. If they happen to find a buyer along the way, so be it. They looked into splitting RW from FW, but it has not happened and probably won't. If it sells, it will be all of it, including the gulf. There have been over a dozen tire kickers, the biggest players being another helio company and a Alaska Native corperation.

If a Native Corp buys them, hang a "closed" sign on the door now. I have been in Alaska most of my life, and I have never seen a native corp do anything but wreck companies, pilfer profits and go out of business. Every ERA employee I know hopes and prays that the Natives don't buy them...
I wish them the best, there are some great guys there. Men who have been there 20 to 30 years, flying 580's and twatters all over the state.

 

[ILStoMinimums]

Alaska Air group is NOT in the mix of potential buyers. That rumor has been around a while, mostly propagated by ERA employees who WISH it was true. Officially, Rowan is doing research on ERA's fair market value. If they happen to find a buyer along the way, so be it. They looked into splitting RW from FW, but it has not happened and probably won't. If it sells, it will be all of it, including the gulf. There have been over a dozen tire kickers, the biggest players being another helio company and a Alaska Native corperation.

If a Native Corp buys them, hang a "closed" sign on the door now. I have been in Alaska most of my life, and I have never seen a native corp do anything but wreck companies, pilfer profits and go out of business. Every ERA employee I know hopes and prays that the Natives don't buy them...
I wish them the best, there are some great guys there. Men who have been there 20 to 30 years, flying 580's and twatters all over the state.

AKFO,

Alaska Air Group DID come through the facility or is next week, this is not a rumor that just surfaced - this came from reliable sources in Management (CP, etc), and actually I hardly believe AS would ever buy this company because of the RW division and many other reasons. There are people here who are pesimistic about it and others that aren't.
From what I understand QX does not have the capacity to cover Era's routes currently, but possibly that could change if the Air Group ever did the buy.

There are guys here that argue that AS wants ERA, I ask them a few questions, Does QX need 9 Twatters, 3 old Dash 8's and 2 aging CV's? VERY SIMPLE - NO, do they need Era to fly Era's routes out of ANC? NO But just my look at the issue................ The only thing QX could use if they were to come up is the hangar and that definately is not a reason to fork over a ton of cash.