Imagine being able to hop aboard your own helicopter with the ability to take off vertically with the utmost ease. You choose the time and, within reason, the place and away you go.
Launched in 2010, Exclusive Aircraft Sales was built by a group of senior aviation professionals from around the world. It has representatives in the UK, USA, South Africa, Australia and a head office in London’s Mayfair. This gives the company the ability to provide its clients with global reach as well as a local service.
Michael McCartney, director and owner of Exclusive Aircraft Sales, explains,
“We provide our customers with a wealth of knowledge and experience when buying or selling in the aviation sector. We concentrate primarily in aircraft sales and lease with a team of dedicated charter brokers that handle VIP passengers, time critical freight and all VIP helicopter transport requirements.”
The company’s helicopters include Agusta Westland (Leonardo) and Airbus Helicopters (Eurocopter) from Europe, Bell Helicopter and Sikorsky Aircraft, from the USA and Mil Helicopters from Russia.
“These are the strongest international brands and the most desired aircraft by our clientele,”
says Mr McCartney.
“They are not really built for range with our units maxing out at approximately 740 miles (for the AW139 helicopter). However, they get our passengers to their destination faster and easier than any other form of transport within their range capabilities.
“The benefits of ownership of a helicopter is simply that you can go where like, whenever you like. Our clients buy them to increase the quality of their life by giving them more time to spend doing the things they like instead of being stuck in traffic for hours in a car. Our helicopters range in cost from £500,000 to £15 million plus.
“The cost of operation very much depends on how much you use it, where it is based, its age, if it is twin engine or single engine.”
Exclusive Aircraft Sales
www.exclusiveaircraft.co.uk
Spanish Skies
Balearic Helicopters, was set up in Mallorca by its chief pilot Jonny Greenall who has been flying there for over 16 years.
“Basically, we tend to match the helicopter for the job requested with either charter or buying,”
he explains.
“There are many different regulations we need to abide by and also we need to ensure the correct helicopter for the job.
“For charter – the information we need would be the amount of passengers (and luggage, if any), time and date of flight and location (to – from), and of course, the customer’s budget. For example, if you want to charter a helicopter to fly over water or at night, then regulations dictate that it must be a twin engine helicopter. If you want to fly from your house to, say, a race course then it can be a single engine helicopter. Naturally – a twin engine helicopter is a lot more expensive that a single engine.”
Buying presents the same type of considerations.
“It is a question of what you want to do with it,”
says Mr Greenall.
“Is it your toy to sit in the garden so you can fly personally for fun or do you want to use the helicopter for a daily business commute?
“The ‘entry level’ helicopter is the Robinson R44, a single engine, four-seater. It is one of the world’s most popular models for both teaching and owning. Basically it is a flying car, piston engine aircraft. It has about a three-hour range, speed of 125mph, and can fly around 350 miles between refuelling. Ownership costs are cheap (relatively in the helicopter world), as are maintenance and operating costs and to buy one new is less than $500,000.
“On the other hand you could buy a brand new Agusta A109, which seats up to eight people. This twin engine, fully automated helicopter flies at 180 mph for over 530 miles with prices around $8 million. And, of course, there is a choice of anything in between!”
Balearic Helicopters
www.balearic-helicopters.com
