Heli Transair has increased its fleet by another twin-engine helicopter, an Agusta A109E Power. The six-seater aircraft – which is single pilot IFR certified – is one of only a handful which are operated in Germany. EBAN spoke to technical manager Paul Brady about the helicopter, which was bought in order that the company may expand in the ever-increasing vip sector.

He explained: “The vip business is only just starting in Germany and the A109E Power is a very good aircraft to use in this market. We’ve now flown 50 hours vip since receiving it in December. At present, it’s being chartered out to another A109 operator whose aircraft is in for maintenance.”

Heli Transair’s home base is in Egelsbach, just 10 kilometres south of Frankfurt. Serving customers nationwide, the company also operates a vip AS365N2, two BO105s and an AS350B2 for freight missions.

Asked about the competitive climate in Germany, Brady said: “There’s a lot of competition for business in this country but we’re the number one for freight. We’ve got contracts with General Motors and Daimler Chrysler.”

Brady says that most operators in Germany work in EMS – a field which is not unfamiliar to Heli Transair. He said: “We operated in this area for 10 years and finally sold it to the ADAC [Allgemeine Deutsche Automobile Club]. You can’t make money out of it.

“The ADAC and DRF are both state-owned or they’ve got their own club members who finance them. They’re the only people who can make money. They can put the prices down because they’ve got the financial backing, they’ve all got club members. They don’t have to make a profit, but other people do.”

That said, one benefit of being involved in the area of EMS for so long is that the company is still certified to take off and land at private grounds, near cities or at factories during the daytime.

Said Brady: “It’s very hard to get this provision but we’ve got it because of our ambulance history. As I understand it, once you've got it they can’t take it away.”

The company makes very good use of this allowance, particularly during the Formula One season. Brady explained: “We do five Formula One races during the year, the biggest of which is Hockenheim.

We use 35 helicopters to transport 1,500 people over the three days and the pick-ups are so varied that it’s very important to have this special landing provision.”

Another advantage Heli Transair has over its competitors is that it claims the largest customer – in

the form of the global management and technology consulting firm, Accenture.

Meanwhile, AgustaWestland has been awarded the decision by the Portuguese government to procure 12 EH101 helicopters for search and rescue, combat SAR role and fishery protection. This follows the recent announcement by Denmark of its decision to purchase 14 EH101’s for SAR and utility roles.

The selection of the EH101 comes at the end of an extensive evaluation and as a result of flight evaluation of the EH101 against the Sikorsky S-92 and the Eurocopter Cougar Mk2+.