Chilean operator Firefly Helicopteros says it has been significantly affected by the global virus pandemic, as it is unable to perform its regular tourism flights to ski centres near Santiago and vineyards on the popular wine route. The company has an AW119 in its fleet, and recently sold another aircraft of the same type. “While the frontiers are closed and the quarantine is the only way to reduce the COVID-19 impact, it is impossible to get a tourist or corporate flight,” confirms general manager Ricardo Mena. “We are very affected. I hope that our hours can start to get back to normal by August or September 2020. We did manage a flight to the mountains in May but other than that we have been very quiet.”

He has been working hard to adapt to new conditions: “We prepared and worked on applying the recommendations from Leonardo Helicopters about separating the cockpit from the passenger cabin, and we are working on the recommendations about the air conditioning and ventilation system.

“For our business, the only way to promote ourselves is to increase our social network posts on sites like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. At this moment we have a complete quarantine on the main cities. I hope that things will be better in the coming weeks.”

Firefly has been obeying restrictions from the authorities and fulfilling all sanitary measures for crews and passengers.

Mena concludes: “I hope to reactivate flights completely, and I hope that COVID-19 disappears from the world, but it's a dream at the moment. As things stand, we have no plans to invest in new aircraft.”