Wherever the work is, however far offshore
Energy and Offshore Travel Management
At Wayte Travel Management, we have decades of experience in getting workers where they need to be, including to some of the hardest places to reach.
Crews rotate on and off drilling platforms and wind farms on fixed cycles. Helicopters have to wait on the North Sea weather and a project can go from planning to mobilisation in a matter of days.
If the travel arrangements don’t pivot when the situation does, you can lose a shift’s worth of work along with the ticket.
We plan rotations around helicopter slots, book flexible fares for when the weather turns and keep a UK-based team on call 24/7.
Offshore crew rotations
Offshore work runs on rotation, such as two weeks on and two off, or three and three. Whatever pattern your contract sets, it means a steady flow of people heading out and coming home, often on the same day and through the same weather, riding in the same helicopter.
Your dedicated travel consultant plans each rotation as a whole. Flights into heliports such as Aberdeen, Norwich or Humberside are timed around the helicopter slots, with hotels near the heliport for anyone arriving the night before or held back by the weather.
We bear both the incoming and the outgoing crews in mind when we plan a changeover, so the transition runs smoothly for everyone.
Because rotations repeat, we can set this up as a regular pattern which we can adapt as your crew lists change. Where possible, we’ll book flexible fares, so a delayed changeover doesn’t mean buying new tickets.
Our marine travel specialists manage a whole crew as one coordinated booking when handling larger moves. Every itinerary also goes to the traveller’s Wayte Travel Companion App.
Travel to remote and hard-to-reach energy sites
Not every energy site has an airport nearby and some have no direct flights at all. Getting a team to an onshore installation in West Africa, a terminal in the Middle East or a remote stretch of the Scottish coast can mean three or four legs, more than one airline and a long drive at the end.
A booking website will find you the cheapest combination of flights. It probably won’t tell you about that tight connection in an unfamiliar hub which could leave someone stranded for a day or more if the first leg runs late.
Your Wayte travel consultant will always build the route around what the trip actually needs: realistic connection times, the right baggage allowance for tools and kit, hotels for overnight stops and transfers at the far end.
Before departure, we can include links to UK government travel advice and entry requirements for each country on the route, then send travellers a briefing on the potential health and security risks where they’re going.
Renewables and energy project travel
Crew rotations for renewables projects follow their own timetables. Offshore wind farms and large solar installations move through phases: a mobilisation peak when dozens of people arrive at once, months of construction with long stays and a changing mix of contractors, then a smaller team for commissioning and maintenance.
We plan your trip to match each phase. When a project mobilises, we’ll book groups into the same hotels close to site, with dinner included where that suits your crews.
As contractors come and go, we’ll swap names on existing bookings wherever the hotel allows, so the agreed rate stays in place.
Travel can be coded to the project, phase or contractor, making it easier to track costs against the budget for each stage. And, because renewables clients often report on their own emissions, every booking carries a CO₂ figure alongside the cost.
Services our energy clients use most
Energy clients use the full range of our services. These three carry most of the load.
Air Travel
Fares held, seats sorted and changes handled, plus unrivalled support, even out of hours.
Hotel Booking & Accommodation
Rates are negotiated in advance, so you’re not paying the walk-in price.
Risk Management & Duty of Care
A 24/7 team who know where your people are and what to do when plans fall apart.
Energy travel support and disruption cover, 24/7
North Sea fog, high winds or a heavy swell can ground helicopters and cancel sailings with little warning. Suddenly a crew that should be offshore is sitting in a heliport terminal and the crew they were relieving can’t get home.
That’s when you need someone who can act straight away. During UK office hours, you have a direct number for your business travel consultant. At other times, our UK-based out-of-hours team takes over, 24 hours a day.
They’ll find you rooms near the heliport, rebook flights around the next available slot and rearrange transfers, so your crew are ready to go when the weather clears.
For more serious incidents, such as conflict, unrest or natural disasters that can close airspace or affect a site, every booking is logged in our Duty of Care Portal. We can quickly see which of your people are affected and help get them home, which supports your duty of care to people working in demanding environments.
Travel policy and approvals for offshore personnel
Offshore and overseas work brings travel decisions that shouldn’t be left to whoever happens to be booking. Your travel policy can flag higher-risk destinations, so any trip there needs sign-off from a nominated senior approver before it’s booked. You can also decide exactly who is allowed to authorise a change once a rotation is confirmed.
Different roles can have different rules, from cabin class on long-haul flights to hotel rate caps by location. Anything outside those rules goes to the right approver by email first. You can set expected booking windows for each rotation too, and your reports will show whether they’re being met.
If you’re drafting or reviewing a travel policy for offshore personnel, we can share our expertise and help you set it up.
Travel reporting by project and cost code
Energy projects are usually budgeted project by project or site by site. Some travel is then recharged to clients or partners while the rest is overhead.
Wayte Travel Analytix breaks your spend down using the fields you set, such as project, site, cost code or contractor. You can see what each rotation, mobilisation or site visit really costs once flights, hotels and transfers are added up. You can then easily split rechargeable travel from your overheads without rebuilding it in a spreadsheet.
Reports also show how far ahead trips were booked, which travellers and routes cost the most and the CO₂ levels for each trip. If your business has offices in the UK, Europe and the US, for example, their data is combined in one place, in the currency you choose.
Everything can be billed and invoiced centrally with timeframes that meet your needs.
Energy travel management FAQs
Can spend be reported by project code?
Yes. Any code you use, such as project, site, cost code or contractor, can be captured when the trip is booked and reported in Wayte Travel Analytix. Learn more on our Reporting page.
What happens if weather delays a rotation?
We rework the travel around the delay. That can mean extending rooms near the heliport, rebooking flights to match the next helicopter slot and rearranging transfers. Outside office hours, our 24/7 UK-based out-of-hours team handles it. Find out more on our Duty of Care page.
Do you support renewables project mobilisation?
Yes. We can move large groups to a new site at once, keep crews together in hotels close to the project and adjust bookings as contractors come and go. Travel can be coded to the project or phase, so costs track against each stage of the job.
Can you book travel to remote or unserved locations?
Yes. Where there’s no direct route, we’ll build one: multi-leg flights with realistic connections, overnight stops where they’re needed and transfers at the far end. We can also include entry requirements and UK government travel advice for every country on the route.
Do you handle offshore rotations?
Yes. We coordinate and support with rotations, timed around helicopter slots, with hotels near the heliport and with flights home for outgoing crew. As crew lists change, we update the bookings and we prioritise flexible fares which help keep the cost of changes down.
Talk to us about your energy travel programme
Whether you run offshore rotations, onshore sites or renewables projects, tell us how your people travel now and where it goes wrong. We’ll come back with a plan built around your rotations and budgets, with no obligation.