Avialta Helicopter Maintenance Ltd. has taken off since owner Rod Wood purchased the company in 1983.
Today, the Transport Canada-approved helicopter repair and overhaul maintenance facility covers over 19,000 square feet at the Villeneuve Airport in Sturgeon County, Alberta, just north of Edmonton, with a lease fleet that has expanded from a few aircraft up into the high 20s.
“We started as a small company, and our focus has always been to serve the Canadian western helicopter industry to the best of our ability,” said general manager Paul Horvatis, who has been with Avialta for over two decades. “We’re not a large company, but we’re an excellent employer and we have a first class facility and treat our people well.”
Avialta now holds service center approval for Bell, Safran Helicopter Engines (formerly Turbomeca), Airbus, DART and Robinson. Holding a coveted Platinum Bell service center designation since 2010–one of only 10 in the world–is a “pretty big feather in our cap,” said Horvatis. “Everyone’s known that we’re Bell; we’ve only taken on the Turbomeca [work] within the last three years now, and we just took on the Airbus [work]. For Airbus, we’re just getting our feet wet in that, since it’s all brand new, but we’re looking at different options mostly from the service and support side.”
As a Bell Customer Service Facility for over 30 years, Avialta has a full assortment of parts, pieces and components for rental and exchange as well as overhaul capabilities.
“We have trained technicians that can go out to the site to perform various types of intervention-like activities,” said Horvatis. Avialta has also been a Robinson Service Center for five years.
“Here, in shop, we consider ourselves to be a one-stop facility,” said Horvatis. “We have the capabilities to work on all the major types, like Bell and Airbus, and we can pretty much do everything here from component overhaul to minor airframe repairs including structural modifications, to sheet metal repairs, paint, avionics, and interior refurbishing. We have the capability in house to do all of that.”
The company also has a state-of-the-art, 9,500-square-foot paint facility called “Heli-Paint.”
Although the offerings that Avialta can provide to Western Canada may have expanded over time, the desire to provide unparalleled customer service has remained unchanged, even in the face of varying market conditions. Horvatis and Wood each have four decades of experience in the helicopter industry, and over the years, they have witnessed that industry evolve dramatically.
One area where Avialta helps its customer base in terms of value is the leasing market.
According to Horvatis, Avialta fulfills the needs of two different types of customer: those who cannot take on the burden of the expense of a new aircraft, or those who have contracts come up faster than they can acquire an aircraft.
“With what we do here, and all our expertise in house, we have the ability to search, buy an aircraft, bring it back here and import it, and get it up and running within a certain amount of time, depending on where we have to get the aircraft from. People understand that leasing from us, they’re going to get a good product, and that we support our product and we support people that lease from us,” said Horvatis.
The key to Avialta’s customer support is in its quick response. “If the aircraft is down, we’re on it,” said Horvatis. “We’re trying to help them as much as we can to get them self-serviceable, because we understand that time is money and money is time. Since Rod and myself have grown up in this industry and being from the operational side, both of us know how important it is to get aircraft up and running–that’s key for us.”
Horvatis and Wood try to bring that work ethic and responsiveness to all staff at Avialta, no matter how small or large the request may be. “We aim to provide our customers with the safest, most cost-effective means of supplying helicopter maintenance services. We are a dedicated group, interested in the long-term preservation of our clients’ satisfaction, safety, growth and trust,” said Horvatis.
Horvatis also acknowledged that one of the reasons for Avialta’s continued success is that it has numerous longstanding employees who have helped drive the company to be a prominent competitor in the business. “We are lucky to have so many outstanding staff members who serve our customers with impressive dedication and enthusiasm.”
Avialta’s staff includes seven licensed engineers and three apprentices on the shop floor, as well as two full-time employees in the overhaul shop, and all employees have completed various helicopter type factory courses and Transport Canada-approved training courses.
“The strength of any company is its employees, and our biggest strength is that we have a way of doing things here and everyone’s bought into that way,” said Horvatis. “We have a certain standard. It is pretty high, and everyone always tries to exceed it. We’re always trying to do it right.”
780-460-1800
If you would like to see your company featured in Insight, contact sales director Frank Sargeant at frank@mhmpub.com.
