Sloane Helicopters has added a Bell 206B helicopter to its AOC in the UK after what operational services director Paul Forster described as a “very long, laborious and painful re-registration.”

The company first spotted the potential addition in Greece 12 months ago. “We were over there

on a trip and noticed a charter company had started to cannibalise two aircraft to keep one of their fleet flying. We then put a silly bid in for both machines and they took us up on it,” he said.

The project to make one aircraft out of the parts was initially designated for any spare-time that Sloane’s engineers had.

But after a particularly busy year it was decided that a couple of workers should be dedicated to

the completion. “From the builders’ point of view it went very smoothly, particularly as there wasn’t any real urgency.

“It was only after the work had finished around four months ago that it became a nightmare due to Greek bureacracy regarding the documentation. In fact we eventually thought it wouldn’t happen, but then miraculously it came through,” explained Forster.

The Bell will mainly be used for flight training and charter. “It just came on the fleet 10 days ago, so it’s only done some self-fly hire with some of the members down here but they’ve all reacted positively to it,” said Forster.

The company didn’t start to promote the aircraft until the paper work was completed, so now was the time to start: “It’s a nice machine – there’s a brand new interior and it’s been completely resprayed.

“It charters at £480 per hour and fills the niche for those wanting to go down to the races (Ascot, Epson), the Grand Prix and an advantage of having floats is that it can also go to Battersea,” he added.

This is Sloane’s only Bell 206B and complements its range of Agusta 109s. “After this I’d like to put a Twin Squirrel on the fleet (which I know I could find some good business for) and also an EC-120,” said Forster.