Erickson Announces Five-Year Firefighting Contract Renewal with City of Los Angeles

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Erickson Incorporated EAC, a leading global provider of aviation services, announced today a new five-year contract with the City of Los Angeles for the provision of aerial firefighting services. The greater Los Angeles area, one of the most populous and high-value regions in the U.S., often faces high temperatures and an arid climate during the summer that can lead to fires.

“We have tremendous respect for the expert firefighting authorities in the greater Los Angeles area and their devotion to keeping the City and its people safe from fires,” said Udo Rieder, Chief Executive Officer of Erickson. “We are proud to provide continued support to these courageous firefighting crews and their crucial missions through our aerial firefighting efforts.”

The new contract includes five guaranteed years of service with five optional one-year extensions thereafter, as well as a 150-day per year minimum availability, up from 90 days in 2013. The contract represents the next chapter of Erickson's 14-year presence in the Southern California region, including its fire suppression agreements with Los Angeles County and San Diego Gas and Electric.

Erickson will provide one S-64 helicopter equipped with the company's proprietary 2,650-gallon fire suppression system, a detachable water tank with multiple refill options and eight coverage levels for targeted fire suppression. The Los Angeles Fire Department Air Operations Center at Van Nuys Airport will serve as the staging area for the helitanker, which will be available for fire suppression efforts at all times during the contractual service periods, which began August 7, 2014.

“The Los Angeles City Fire Department is pleased to continue working with Erickson, as both our department and our residents value the company's elite aerial fire suppression services,” said Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas. “Together, our two organizations help save lives and resources when time is of the essence,” Chief Terrazas added.

Erickson employs the world's most qualified pilots, maintenance personnel and support teams necessary to aid in flight operations and safety procedures. Services offered by Erickson's medium- and light-lift helicopters include passenger transport, oil and seismic exploration support, search and rescue, aerial spray application, firefighting, long-line lift operations, and emergency medical evacuation at some of the most challenging and isolated places on Earth.

About Erickson

Erickson is a leading global provider of aviation services a diverse mix of commercial and government customers. Erickson currently operates a diverse fleet of 90 rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft, including 20 heavy-lift S-64 Aircranes. The Aircrane is the only helicopter in the world with an aft-facing pilot station used to control extreme precision load placement. This fleet supports a wide and worldwide variety of government and commercial customers, across a broad range of aerial services, including critical supply and logistics for deployed military forces, humanitarian relief, firefighting, timber harvesting, infrastructure construction, and crewing. Erickson also maintains a vertical manufacturing capability for the S-64 Aircrane, related components, and other aftermarket support and maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for the S-64 Aircrane and other aircrafts. Founded in 1971, Erickson is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and maintains facilities and operations in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. For more information, please visit www.ericksonaviation.com.

This press release contains certain statements relating to future results (including, without limitation, “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “expect,” “predict”), which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on beliefs of Company management, as well as assumptions and estimates based on information currently available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those anticipated, including our ability to successfully provide services and otherwise execute under our contract with Los Angeles City , and also including certain other risks or uncertainties more fully described under the heading “Risk Factors” in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as in the other reports we file with the SEC from time to time, which are available at the SEC's web site located at http://www.sec.gov. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.