Mountain Air Helicopters Inc.

Mountain Air Helicopters Inc., a minority-owned, veteran-owned small disadvantaged business based in Los Lunas, New Mexico, provides fully contractor-operated and maintained Type III helicopter flight services to federal land management and wildfire response agencies as a prime contractor on two large IDIQs and numerous delivery orders. The company competes predominantly under total small business set-asides on the Department of the Interior vehicle and full-and-open on the larger National Interagency Fire Center contract; 99 percent of its recent awards are prime contracts.

Mountain Air Helicopters' capability footprint centers on rotary-wing aviation for wildland fire suppression, prescribed burns, search and rescue, aerial reconnaissance, cargo transport, law enforcement surveillance, and resource management activities across the continental United States. The company holds two master contracts: a $30 million Type 3 Helicopter Support Services IDIQ with the National Interagency Fire Center (awarded April 12, 2023, running through December 31, 2032) under no set-aside, and a $49.5 million On-Call Type III Helicopter Flight Services IDIQ with the Department of the Interior (awarded May 1, 2022, running through April 30, 2027) under total small business set-aside. Representative recent work includes a $1.54 million delivery order from the National Interagency Fire Center in February 2025 for Type III helicopter services at Los Alamos, New Mexico; a $392,266.90 delivery order from the U.S. Forest Service's Idaho Region in August 2025 for fire suppression operations in Kanab, Utah; and a $49,881 delivery order from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 2 in December 2025 for Gila trout stocking operations in Los Lunas through September 2026.

Customer concentration is acute and forest-fire-focused. The top five customer agencies account for 71 percent of combined potential value. The National Interagency Fire Center leads both by award count (51 awards, $49.2 million) and is second by dollar value; the Department of the Interior Interior Business Center anchors the portfolio at $55.5 million across five awards (the $49.5 million IDIQ plus subordinate task orders). The Bureau of Indian Affairs across four regions collectively places 57 awards worth $74.5 million. Mountain Air Helicopters serves 24 distinct agencies, but federal land management and fire suppression work accounts for the vast majority of volume.

The vendor sits on five named parent vehicles. The Type 3 Helicopter Support Services IDIQ carries 21 task orders ($4.6 million combined potential value); the On-Call Type III Helicopter Flight Services IDIQ carries delivery orders tracked through the Interior Business Center and subordinate regional offices. A Basic Ordering Agreement 1202SA21G5301 with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Western Region generated 22 task orders. Mountain Air Helicopters also holds a $7.5 million Forest Service basic ordering agreement for Region 3 on-demand Type III helicopter services through 2024 and operates under DOI on-call helicopter vehicles dating to 2017–2018.

Activity has remained steady with seasonal fluctuation. The past five years show 14 awards (2022), 18 (2023), 15 (2024), 10 (2025), and 4 so far in 2026—a pattern consistent with fire-season-driven procurement. Twenty-two awards with ultimate completion dates inside the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $1.6 million and represent recompete exposure, primarily delivery orders rolling off both the NIFC and Interior IDIQs.

SCI-reported activity is minimal: $636 thousand in invoiced revenue in FY2022 across 1.6 FTEs, with zero FTEs and zero invoicing reported in FY2025. Government-paid hourly rates derived from SCI data averaged $186.38 per hour. SCI underreports this vendor's federal services footprint significantly—the source captures only large service contracts above the $150,000 threshold and excludes products and goods; helicopter operations, aircraft maintenance, and time-and-materials flight-hour work typically bypass SCI reporting bands. The $240.4 million in combined potential value across 185 recent awards reflects goods (aircraft) and services (crew, fuel, maintenance) that fall outside or below SCI's thresholds.

Mountain Air Helicopters operates almost entirely as a prime (99% of awards) and reports zero subcontractor hour-share across SCI records, indicating that the company builds its own delivery capability and does not rely on subs for core helicopter operations. The vendor also holds two minor sub positions with Peraton Inc. on NASA Balloon Facility operations and management work (April 2026 and November 2024 awards), representing diversification outside the core wildfire-response mission but negligible in volume.

Recent awards cluster in New Mexico (Los Lunas, Farmington, Los Alamos, Sandia Park, Double Eagle) and extend across western states—Utah, Arizona, Colorado—reflecting the continental footprint of the NIFC and Interior IDIQs. The vendor's track record spans 24 federal agencies and extends back to at least 2003, establishing sustained capability across multiple administrations and budget cycles in a fragmented but durable market for on-call rotary-wing aviation.

Safe, professional, customer-oriented utility helicopter services. FAA certified Air Carrier and External Load operator. Aerial Mulching, Aerial survey, inspection and air support. Aerial fire fighting, law enforcement support, aerial search. Foundation support. Grout and concrete delivery. Biologist survey support. Movie and TV aerial action and camera mount film.