Aerial solutions provider Avincis hopes to double the size of its wind farm support operation by the start of next decade on the back of entering the segment with its September acquisition of Danish operator KN Helicopters.
Avincis foresees huge opportunity in the segment based on the number of wind farms planned in the coming years, particularly in northern Europe.
Forecasts from trade body WindEurope predict EU nations will build 22GW of new wind farms annually from 2025 to 2030, adding to the 291GW of wind-power capacity already in place across Europe, including the UK. Of that total, 254GW is onshore and 37GW is offshore, the data shows.
In the first half of 2025 alone, Europe ordered 11.3GW of new wind turbines – up 19% on the same period of 2024 – including 8.8GW onshore and 2.5GW offshore, WindEurope says.
“If we were able to get 30 or 40% of that market, that would be a huge revenue stream to the company,” says Avincis chief commercial officer Simon Tye.
Although KN Helicopters is a relatively small business, operating a four-strong fleet of Airbus Helicopters H135s and H145s across three bases in Denmark – a fourth will come on line next September – Avincis sees it as stepping-stone for expansion in the sector.
KN Helicopters was acquired “because it was the right partner to do it with; size didn’t matter, it was the culture and approach in the organisation,” said Tye, speaking at the operator’s headquarters in Esbjerg.
“It’s a lot easier to come into a new market segment with people who know the business,” adds Avincis managing director Phil Hood, who is responsible for the new operation. “We can learn a lot from them.”
Describing KN Helicopters as a “new string to our bow”, he promises Avincis’s financial muscle will give the business “resources to grow”.
Avincis’s offshore business segment – which includes a small oil and gas support operation in Mozambique – accounts for around 6% of the company’s revenue, the majority from wind farm-support work.
But Tye is confident revenue from the unit can double by the beginning of the 2030s.
While the initial focus will be bolstering the Danish business, future organic growth will likely centre on northern Europe – including in other Nordic countries, Germany and Poland.
For KN Helicopters’ co-founder Niels-Peter Kjeldahl, who remains chief executive post-acquisition, being part of Avincis “allows us to go into different locations – we have definitely seen increased interest from our customers”.
Avincis’s footprint elsewhere in Scandinavia “also makes it easier to set up shop” in new locations, he says.
Further out, Tye says the “next challenge… is whether we want to go back across the water to the UK”.
Although stressing “there are no plans at the moment” for a UK operation, ”if the right opportunity presented itself we would look at it”.
Should Avincis target the UK, this would likely be inorganic growth, he says, through another acquisition or partnership with a local operator.
“Then there is the whole global market to think about, but for now it’s about learning to walk before we run.”
