Fractional Helicopter Operations

[WhiskeyNovember]

Hello all,


Given the success of fractional jet operators (Netjets, for example), I'd be curious to hear what kind of market may exist for a fractional helicopter operation.

Such an operation would probably establish main "hubs" in or near the downtown districts of large cities. I would imagine large corporations would enjoy the fast and effortless transportation to and from airports where their business jet or airline flight awaits.

From a customer's point of view, a properly run fractional helicopter operation would take care of all of the hassles involved in owning, operating, and maintaining your own helicopter. This seems to be the single largest factor in a company's decision to go with Netjets, for example.

From the fractional operator's point of view, such an operation would require perhaps only a handful of helicopters. At night, or during slower periods, I'm sure the operator could secure contracts with local law enforcement and news stations, both of which need access to helicopters at irregular and random times.

So anyway, I thought it would be interesting to hear the different perspectives that you all may have to offer.


-WN

[LGW Vulture]

Its about to happen over here in Europe. I have it on very good authority that one "major" player is already down the road on this one.

[Helinut]

There has been at least one attempt at a fractional helicopter ownership operator in the UK,which sadly failed.

I am not at all sure that it is the same animal as for planks, but it would be great if someone could make it work.

One of the problems is getting to be big enough to be able to provide the helicopter where and when the owner wants it, without massive positioning costs.

[helipilotnz]

i have heard of two companies in the states. one is www.heliflite.com . it is a dream of mine to work for this type of opperation so i hope many more become reality.

[WhiskeyNovember]

Cool. What is the other company that you know of in the states?



-WN

[ppheli]

US
www.sikorskyshares.com (S76)
www.heliflite.com (B430)
www.jraviation.com (mention on their website, but no details)

France
www.aviaxess.com (EC130)

UK
www.first-heli-network.co.uk (Helinut, is this the "attempt" you refer to? Their website is still live, but I agree that they have never had any fractional hardware to back up the talk to date)

[leading edge]

The UK company was Skyhopper, I think

????

LE

[rotorgnome]

Yes its was Skyhopper, a brave effort that unfortuantely went the way of the dodo soem years back. They were based at EGTB with engineering at Blackbushe.

2 x S76 + a Bell 430 (on N-reg) was the fleet with some back up As355s. A 109 turned up later too.

I think about 12+ pilots were on hand to cater for a 24/7 service with most flights ferrying city types out of Batts. With just two flights a day (at most) , quite a lot of crews flew once a month at most!

As far as I know most customers liked the service but not enough signed up to support the monster overheads, although they did have a contract to back-up the Royal flight.

Anyone out there involved in the project?



:confused:

[Helinut]

Yep that's the one. Rotorgnome is reasonably accurate although there were one or two other wrinkles too.

A brave venture that was not too far from succeeding. It is very difficult though in the early stages. For the thing to make commercial sense to the operator it needs to get to be big and sadly, not enough customers signed up in time.

[rotorgnome]

Thats the hurdle. Netjets no doubt racked up huge losses in positioning costs before the critical mass of a client base was met (a loss-leading process they are probably facing again as they try and break into Europe).

Zillionaire backing does help with this process I spose, but certainly in the UK there does not seem a large enough client base to achieve this with Helos on its own.

It would be interesting to know if a scheme would work in the States though - or maybe offer it here on cheaper machines for a wider market.

Hmm.. fractional ownership.. would that make the flight category private rather than public transport??

[blave]

My perspective is considerably different. I live in the "Silicon Valley" area of California (a little-known area of the Colonies!), and would welcome the concept of a fractional ownership scenario - not for corporate pax use, but for *private pilots* that can't really afford to buy (for instance) an R44 by themselves, but would like the opportunity for some sort of shared ownership of a nice helo that can carry more than 2 people.

I'm thinking of a 1/10 ownership setup - the buy-in is almost 8^) affordable, and the maintenance/overhaul costs would be spread over a considerable number of pockets.

I'm not sure if that's what you were asking for, but this is what I think of when I think about Fractional Helicopter Ownership.

Dave Blevins
KRHV

[Barannfin]

To Blave What your describing is already done, just not by any overseeing companies. I know a few of the helicopters at our flight school are owned by more than one person. I believe they set it up as a business, they recieve their revenue from the flight school paying for use of the a/c. I would think that would make it even more affordable. Its very similar to a club owned plane I guess. You might be able to get more information on that in the gen. av section of the forum, as its more common for fixed wingers.