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dunnarunna
8th Feb 2007, 16:09
Hear it has been sold again......!

Bravo73
8th Feb 2007, 16:26
Who to?



,jhgjkhgjkhgjkgh

oldgit
8th Feb 2007, 19:16
Rumour has it that the man in question is 'Andrew Davis' who also seems to own most of the aircraft 'Premiair' operate, think VONA, VONB,VONC ETC ETC. a HOTELIER WITH 6 HELICOPTERS?!! Most people smell a rat, tales of houses of cards abound etc

ppheli
9th Feb 2007, 04:51
Yes, Andrew Davis who owns Von Essen Hotels (http://www.vonessenhotels.com/)
6 helicopters? you're lagging... he's up to 9 now... three 76s, a 222 and five Twin Squirrels (http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?categoryid=60&pagetype=65&applicationid=1&mode=summary&owner=von%20essen).
The story does seem to be substantiated by an article in the Times today (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/leisure/article1356267.ece) which is expecting the official announcement today. Although for some reason that article says he has 15 helicopters and 3 jets (only one of the latter so far, but another one due, I hear)

[edited for speeling misteak...]

Heliport
9th Feb 2007, 07:56
Times report says
Von Essen will also announce today that it has signed an agreement to hand the running of the heliport to PremiAir, part of the Sir Robert McAlpine Group. PremiAir already operates Von Essen’s fleet of luxury helicopters and jets under a joint venture arrangement.

Bravo73
9th Feb 2007, 07:58
Surely this is more encouraging for the future of the heliport than being owned by a property developer?




(And sorry Heliport, but your future is already assured! ;))

Flying Lawyer
9th Feb 2007, 08:09
I agree.

Von Essen has luxury country house hotels throughout the country, in a price bracket ranging from expensive to How much??!!! :eek:
Many of them have helipads, and the company already has a well-established link with helicopters.
Seems like good news to me.

What Limits
9th Feb 2007, 08:35
I do wish that some of the company riches would filter down to the bottom-feeders like me !

Good news all the same and at least it seems that the future of The London Heliport is assured for the time being.

I wonder if we get a discount at the "HOW MUCH?" hotels ?

Head Turner
9th Feb 2007, 08:57
Will this mean that the 'improvements' long promised will see the light of day, and might it also lead to more space and more movements at a lesser cost???

Bravo73
9th Feb 2007, 09:04
Will this mean that the 'improvements' long promised will see the light of day I imagine that these will be factored in (again) with the development of the new hotel.

and might it also lead to more space More space? Where's this new space going to come from? The only area that I can think of is the river!

and more movements at a lesser cost??? Lower landing fees? Yep, probably if your reg has got a 'VON' in it. Otherwise, I imagine that the rest of 'us' are going to have to pay extra for the new developments...

estepo
9th Feb 2007, 09:15
I've stayed at several of the Von Essen hotels - in fact, they were the only hotels we would use when my wife and I flew back to England - needless to say, we always flew there.

Although they're all without exception interesting buildings, they all appeared to lack a bit of TLC.

Head Turner
9th Feb 2007, 09:33
Bigger Battersea. The river is the only area that should be considered for expansion and added safety. How many of you remember when Battersea had just the small platform sticking out over the river, before the large platform was added? My first visit to Battersea was in the early 70's.

Bravo73
9th Feb 2007, 09:39
Building out into the river would of course be ideal but I can't see Battersea council (or whoever owns that stretch of the river - The Corporation of London, maybe?) ever giving planning permission for it... :(

Brilliant Stuff
11th Feb 2007, 21:46
A helicopter man owning a Heliport can only be good news, but then I have lived a sheltered life. I hope it truns out to be good news.

Snarlie
12th Feb 2007, 08:59
I think you will find that all avenues of expansion were explored whilst Battersea was in the hands of the dreaded Egyptian Grocer. Any extension of the platform into the river was subject to Port of London Authority approval which was certain not to be forthcoming. This coupled with the "jobsworth" attitude of our friends in the Aerodrome Standards department at Gatwick means that what you see is what you are stuck with.

cyclic_fondler
12th Feb 2007, 10:51
Snarlie,

I think there was an underlining political reasoning for not letting the grocer do anything. IIRC, he wanted to get a heli pad put on top of Harrods and agreed with everything the CAA wanted but it got refused by the Deputy PM for an undisclosed reason!

Nowadays any owner of the heliport will have to fight Ken "I hate helicopters more than I hate 4x4s" Livingstone!