PHI Inc. was founded by Robert L. Suggs and Maurice M. Bayon with a startup cost of $100,000, and three
Bell 47 helicopters. They started by providing service to a seismographic group working in the
wetlands of
Louisiana. The company's service extended to offshore drilling platforms in the
Gulf of Mexico, and grew their fleet with the addition of the
Sikorsky S-55 and the
Sikorsky S-58 helicopters. Over the next couple of decades the company expanded their fleet to 300 helicopters, which was the biggest non-military group of aircraft., and constructed the world's largest heliport at Lake Palourde in
Morgan City In 1981 Petroleum Helicopters created
PHI Air Medical, and became a provider of
aeromedical services. ==Fleet B==