Fleet classification for Pawan Hans FY 2022, by helicopter type

In financial year 2022, Pawan Hans Limited had 44 helicopters in its fleet, with 17 of them being Dauphin SA365N. Both Dauphin types were manufactured by Airbus Helicopters SAS. Pawan Hans also leased two aircraft, Dhruv, from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Pawan Hans was India's largest and one of Asia's biggest helicopter operators.

Pawan Hans Limited

Pawan Hans Limited was set-up in 1985 and began its operations in October 1986. As of March 2020, Pawan Hans Limited was a public listed company, with the government having a 51 percent stake while ONGC had the rest. Pawan Hans utilized its helicopters for different off-shore operations, connecting inaccessible areas, air-ambulance service during nights for emergency evacuations, ferrying employees, and other vital services. It also uses copters for leasing services to different administrative governments and utility service providers, as well as pilgrimage services. Since financial year 2011, the average monthly fleet deployment was at least 30 copters per month.

Competitors

Pawan Hans has had competition since the late 90s. Global Vectra was one of them, with 30 copters under its fleet and approximately 260 thousand hours of flying time. Heritage Aviation Private Limited was another emerging player in this market. Apart from Pawan Hans, there were 51 other non-scheduled operators in the country with varying fleet sizes.