Alliance Aviation has won a new five-year contract to fly BHP iron ore workers to mines in Western Australia’s north, a deal which it says is its largest customer contract to date.
The fly-in/fly-out carrier said it will operate 36 sectors a week between Perth and Coondewana and Barimunya airports, which are both owned by BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty Ltd (BHPIO), using existing Fokker 100 and Fokker 70LR aircraft.
Alliance chief executive Scott McMillan said the BHPIO contract increased the company’s share of fly-in/fly-out services to major miners for operations that were in long-term production.
“We have always focused on these types of contracts and these have served us well through the various stages of the commodity cycle,” McMillan said in a statement.
The five-year contract includes two one-year options, and is Alliance’s first for BHPIO.
Despite the contract win, Alliance has lowered forecast net profit for the second time in three months.
The company now expects net profit for the 12 months to June 30 2014 to come in between $12 million and $13 million, down from $23.3 million in the prior year.
Alliance said the revised profit forecast was due to “continued delays in start dates in new contract wins”.
