Kent-based Heli-Charter has been chosen by Greek company Beladia to supply a Bell JetRanger for specialist pylon work in south-eastern Europe. Speaking from the company's headquarters, spokesman Gary Slater told EBAN: "Beladia has won the contract, we're merely supplying the aircraft and expertise." So why choose a UK company? Slater explained: "They have to use UK-registered machines even though the operational side of it is nothing to do with us. They can operate G-reg aircraft on their AOC to do whatever work they need. The aircraft has been flown down by one of our staff and will be managed by him until it comes back."\rHeli-Charter says it took two days and five fuel stops to deliver the helicopter to Athens, flying through France to the Mediterranean coast, into Italy and across the Adriatic to Greece. Slater said: "The pylon inspection contract works like this: Their contract ends in October but if they've performed correctly and have delivered the information correctly, they will be awarded the contract for two years. They have a sector of pylons that they have to inspect on Crete and in Athens and as quick as they can fly, is how long it takes - it's about 600 hours a year. Whether we're actually still supplying machines at that stage is unknown. We've sent the machine down there for a few weeks to help them out and we'll see how it goes from there."\rThus, Heli-Charter's continued involvement with Beladia depends on the Greek company's ability to satisfy its own client, the electricity board. Slater said: "If everything goes to plan, Heli-Charter will be happy to repeat the operation. Of course we're dependent on them winning the contract but I think the chances of that are very high. They're a very professional outfit, they've got good engineering and good office and interpersonal skills. Once everything is loaded down onto CD-ROM, their job is to present a whole portfolio to the electricity board of what they've done." Currently, Heli-Charter operates two JetRangers and one Robinson. To these, the company hopes to be adding an Agusta 109 in the very near future. Slater said: "If the deal goes through as predicted, a 109 will be arriving within the month. The 109 is privately owned but is to be put on an AOC in order to be operated on public transport. Initially, it's purely for the customer's own requirements and will be placed with us to manage and operate as required."\rAs regards the feasibility of charter work, Slater told EBAN: "There is twin work available, as there is in all areas. It's quite nice if you can sell a machine to a customer who has his own requirements for it; first off because it's obviously an expensive outlay. If they've got their own genuine requirement for it in place, then anything you can add to it is obviously a more relaxed way of doing things. \r"If they buy it and say 'this is purely for you to operate but if it doesn't work we'll sell it' - you can bet your bottom dollar that after the first year, it will go. It's quite nice that, in this case, they've got their own heavy requirement for it and we can build up a twin operation as we go along. I'm quite excited about getting it." Heli-Charter's plans for the near future, Slater says, are initially concentrated on the development of maintenance facilities. He said: "We're moving into maintenance and are just in the process of putting up more hangarage so we can apply for a 145. At the moment, all our machines are maintained at other places but obviously as you sell more machines, there is more of a requirement to do things in-house. \r"Our problem at the moment is that London Manston is very young in its certification and we're struggling to get a plot of land that we can put the hangar on. It's being progressed as quickly as possible but it's obviously very difficult to push them along any quicker. It's certainly the intention to get a 145; however long that takes is unknown. I would like to see it completed by the middle of next year. We've had the CAA down and we've had discussions with them on what to do and how to apply. We've got licensed engineers on-board. It's really a question of the paperwork exercise taking longer than the work itself. I wouldn't envisage it before mid-next year. The holding point is the hangar at the moment." \rHeli-Charter's other outlet - a flying school - has only been in existence for the last 12 months but says Slater, has served as a catalyst for sales customers. Slater said of the current buoyancy in the company's sales: "As people are passing out, they're asking to have their own helicopters. One of our clients is now buying his second JetRanger through us. They're not machines that we own, obviously we're acting as broker for them. Finding the right machines and making sure they're getting a good service is how we're finding most of our sales are coming through. \r"It's the first year in which we've had anything like this level of sales. I think the last one that we sold was three years ago. And this year, this will be our fourth one we've put through. We've already got orders in place through other students that require machines in March onwards of next year. It's very, very buoyant throughout the whole industry. Sales are moving along quite nicely as there seems to be a bit more confidence in the market at the moment - let's hope it stays." As concerns the company's best selling machine, Slater said its currently a one-horse race. He told EBAN: "It has to be the good old JetRanger. Customers are making a lot of conversions from Robinson 44 to JetRanger, and a lot of conversions from Robinson 22 up to JetRanger. The JetRanger is still, in my opinion, the workhorse of the industry. It can do any available job, everybody knows it, spares are freely available, it's environmentally quite friendly, everybody likes it, everybody can fly it and if it doesn't work out for you, the resale of it is absolutely easy.\r"Operating costs are all known to the penny, they've been around for so long. They're well known, well trusted, I think it's the real workhorse of the small helicopter market, for sure. The 109 is very nice but if you gave me another JetRanger tomorrow, I could work the JetRanger very easily. Putting us on to a 109 requires more thought and more marking. The JetRanger is what's moving easiest at the moment. \rWith reference to pilot training, Slater says it was only started by Heli-Charter on a trial basis. He said: "We only had two definite customers before we started. We thought we'd train these two, see how it went and if it progressed well, we'd put more effort into it. It has gathered its own momentum without any advertising. Manston has never had training. As soon as it arrived, there were people knocking on the door for it. You don't make enormous profits out of each student but the idea is that with each after-sale, the cashflow is kept ticking over, which is all important through the winter."\rSlater says that while 90 per cent of Heli-Charter's students are recreational, he is sceptical about those who believe a helicopter can be another means of getting to work each day. He said: "A few will try and justify it. But in reality, they pass the test, buy a helicopter and don't really fly it. They put it back out to companies to earn money and carry on from there.\r"The problem with London in particular, as we all know, is that Battersea is expensive and not the easiest place to get into. They've obviously got enormous overheads and everyone appreciates that within the industry but it's a lot to pass on to your customer. Vanguard is a very good site although a bit restrictive. There is nowhere else, unless you've got a conference at a hotel or something of the like. \r"Instead of the Dome, they should have made a millennium helipad. It would have been much more useful - and cheaper!" EBAN asked Slater whether he thought the UK is still a long way from having the facilities in place for people to fly to work. He said: "I'm not entirely sure it will ever happen. Years ago there used to be the barge with helipads on it. That was a fabulous idea, something like that would work well again but we will see."\rFor Heli-Charter, over the millennium at least, things will quieten down a little. Slater said: "Obviously everything is going to happen in darkness, which wipes out the single market flying-wise. We've had a hell of a lot of enquiries - to be airborne over the Dome or travelling the Thames or up in Blackpool seeing the lights - but I think we'll all be enjoying the evening somewhere else."