Sloane Helicopters, UK Agusta and Robinson dealers, has sold an Agusta 109A to new operator Knight Exek of Hereford. EBAN spoke to Adrian Munday of Sloane and Garry Hodge of Knightway about the deal.

Knight Exek is a company that has been set to operate and own the aircraft. "The company owns the asset and we lease it back," Munday explained. "The aircraft is operated through ourselves, because we have the AOC and we have the commercial pilots. Knight Exek is a front company to promote air time on that particular machine, marketing the airframe in conjunction with ourselves, to put as much flight time on the aircraft as possible."

This arrangement is merely part of a larger and more intricate picture. Knight Exek's helicopter, operated for vip and corporate charter, is a 1987 Agusta 109 mark II which Sloane owned and registered as G-SLNE (now G-EXEK). "We were using it as our own machine within our company, and for other people to fly," said Munday. "We also had a 109 Power - G-GVIP. We ran both those aircraft. However, as a UK Agusta distributor we sold both machines. The Power went to a company called Rotorjet in Holland.

"We then sold a brand new 109 Power to a company called Triventures, which we now lease back and have available for charter.

So we still have two aircraft which we operate on behalf of the owners," he added.

"We have used the money generated to buy another Agusta 109 Power which we take delivery of in September." Sloane's recent activities also include the launch of the Agusta 109 Koala, as reported in last month's EBAN.

One thing that stands out from this gamut of purchases and leasing is that Sloane seem to have a knack for getting useful registration numbers. We asked Munday to share his secret:

"Right, I'll tell you," he said. "Years of experience. Obviously I have to deal with the CAA. The problem is that we're running out of decent registration numbers in the UK, because when a aircraft is either exported or sold, the registration dies with the aircraft. If we sold G-EXEK abroad next week, we would never be able to use the registration again. The CAA don't have the computer software to reallocate that registration. I sit myself down - you're right, I do have a knack for it - to put a set of letters together that will actually mean something to the company or individual that owns it."

Munday added: "We have management deals on behalf of private individuals who we have sold aircraft to, we have aircraft that we manage for corporations, then lease the aircraft back and sell them for vip charter. We also have a very active Robinson sales department with the R22 and R44, and we are selling an awful lot of the new hydraulic 44s. We have been making a delivery a week since the beginning of the year."