Air Center Helicopters, Inc.

Air Center Helicopters, Inc., headquartered in Burleson, Texas, operates as a prime contractor (100% of recent awards) providing rotary-wing aircraft services, vertical replenishment logistics, rescue and instructional training, and firefighting support to the Department of the Navy, Department of the Air Force, Department of the Interior, and National Science Foundation. The vendor competes predominantly on full-and-open (no-set-aside) basis, though it holds a $3.5 million total small business set-aside single-award IDV with Air Combat Command and sits on the OASIS+ Total Small Business set-aside GWAC.

Air Center Helicopters' customer concentration splits between two distinct customer tiers. By award count, the Department of the Interior Departmental Offices accounts for 154 awards and the Department of the Navy Naval Sea Systems Command for 153 awards—together representing 79% of recent awards. However, by potential value, the top customer is the Department of the Navy Military Sealift Command (10 awards, $529.9 million combined potential value), followed by the Army Materiel Command's Expeditionary Contracting Command (2 awards, $232.2 million), NAVSEA (153 awards, $205.3 million), and Air Mobility Command (2 awards, $151.8 million). The Navy portfolio (military sealift command plus NAVSEA combined) dominates dollars; Interior dominates volume through routine delivery orders. Recent representative work includes a $82.8 million Military Sealift Command definitive contract for vertical replenishment Pacific Detachment A services at Guam through July 28, 2031 (with four one-year options); a $35 million NAVSEA single-award IDV (awarded August 1, 2025, through July 31, 2030) for exclusive-use and on-call medium-lift helicopter support to Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems; and a $146.5 million Worldwide Airlift Services Program delivery order under Army Africa Command for North and West Africa rotary-wing airlift.

The vendor's primary NAICS footprint centers on 481212 (Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation) and passenger air charter across 250 awards, with secondary activity in flight training (24 awards) and other air transportation support. PSC coding aligns with passenger air charter and air freight transportation, training, and helicopter services. Air Center Helicopters' capability portfolio remains concrete and specialized: medium-lift and heavy-lift helicopter operations; personnel and cargo logistics (vertical replenishment); rescue operations; instructional and combat aviation advisor training; wildland firefighting support; and Antarctic research logistics. The vendor operates aircraft such as medium-lift rotorcraft capable of minimum 9,630 lb external lift capacity and maintains crew certifications (Secret clearances, FAA Part 135/133 compliance) and aircraft maintenance at forward-deployed locations.

Activity has declined from peaks in prior years (12 awards in 2022) to 3 awards in 2026 year-to-date, but combined potential value remains substantial due to long-duration fixed-price contracts, particularly the MSC vertical replenishment multi-year detachment awards. Only one award (combined potential value $57.5 million) faces ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months, reflecting a smooth recompete profile relative to the magnitude of the contract base.

Service Contract Inventory reporting is limited and does not reflect the vendor's full federal portfolio: SCI-reportable invoiced amounts across FY2022–FY2024 totaled $31 million ($7.3 million in FY2022, $14.5 million in FY2023, $9.2 million in FY2024), with 4.5 to 9.8 SCI-reportable FTEs across those years. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable prime contracts ran with a median of $396.89/hr, ranging from $84.19/hr at the tenth percentile to $1,455.08/hr at the ninety-fifth percentile, reflecting a mix of pilot, maintenance, and crew labor. SCI data captures only a narrow band of the vendor's federal activity and excludes most goods-and-services work (helicopter operations, flight hours, logistics support), classified work, and product deliveries. Air Center Helicopters performs 100% of its SCI-reportable prime work directly (zero subcontract hours across SCI records).

The vendor holds positions on multiple named IDVs beyond recent awards. The NAVSEA $35 million single-award contract (August 1, 2025) and the Air Combat Command $3.5 million total small business set-aside single-award IDV (November 1, 2025, through October 31, 2030) anchor near-term work; the National Interagency Fire Center $3.5 million Call When Needed IDV expired December 31, 2024. Air Center Helicopters also holds a seat on the GSA OASIS+ Total Small Business set-aside GWAC (awarded July 2, 2025, through July 1, 2030) and competes on the $5.7 billion Worldwide Airlift Services Program administered by U.S. Transportation Command for global rotary-wing airlift, from which multiple multi-million-dollar delivery orders have flowed over the past three years. The five primary parent vehicles (top_parent_vehicles block) include four Interior/Interior Business Center-managed indefinite delivery contracts (138, 54, 52, and 39 task orders respectively) for routine air charter and logistics work, and the Air Mobility Command IDV (FA489019DA002, 22 task orders, $26.8 million). This vehicle concentration reflects the vendor's operational model: long-standing relationships with Navy and Army requiring continuous helicopter and logistics support, sustained by indefinite delivery frameworks and routine task ordering.

Air Center Helicopters is a for-profit corporate entity with no stated SBA certifications (8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB) and competes in full-and-open solicitations as the baseline posture, with selective participation in set-aside vehicles where certified or eligible. The vendor subcontracts minimally; all SCI-reported work is delivered directly. The source identifies one sub-award (January 31, 2025, to Peraton Inc. for NASA Balloon Facility operations and management), indicating the vendor rarely appears in a subcontractor role.