For our Perspectives series, we talk to experienced business aviation industry professionals who share with us their individual insights and offer a window into their world. This month's interviewee is Mike Burns, managing director of UK operator Atlas Helicopters. Atlas has recently added a Harrogate, North Yorkshire operating base to its headquarters in Hampshire. In addition, it has welcomed an Agusta AW109SP, the latest variant of the A109 family, which will complement the company's existing A109S and AS355 fleet.

“It is planned the fleet will be equally split between both operating sites, however, the fleet locations will remain flexible based on the date and location of charter requirements. Importantly, Harrogate will give Atlas greater geographical coverage and reduce customers’ costs when chartering from the north of the country. For instance, Harrogate to London is 65 minutes, while only 20 and 25 minutes to Manchester and Liverpool respectively.

"Our Hampshire HQ at Lasham Airfield will still perform all operational planning and remain as the prime company operating base location. Operations will remain available 24/7, and our ops team is already seeing a steady rise in enquiries, especially for those looking forward to the summer season, when we hope the coronavirus pandemic will have abated somewhat.

"The addition of a new base and helicopter type comes at a time when we are planning for what we hope to be a successful spring and summer flying season. In contrast, 2020 was difficult for all UK helicopter operators as we were unable to perform our usual private and business charter operations. Such restrictions on normal operations will likely remain in force for some time. This is already being felt with events such as the Isle of Man TT in May and June having been cancelled with an early decision taken in November 2020. The first major outdoor event for 2021 involving the vast majority of the UK onshore helicopter charter fleet will be the Cheltenham Festival from 16–19 March. The industry is bracing itself for an announcement as to whether the event will be held with full crowds – I believe this is unlikely – or with limited numbers, as per the restrictions in December 2020, which allowed a maximum of 2,000 attendees.

"The industry is hoping that a system of advanced testing for events and venues may be introduced by the spring, allowing us all to get back to some sort of normality. No one in business, especially the aviation, travel and hospitality industries, can likely withstand another 2020. It is hoped therefore that if government and events/venues come together with specific safety protocols, events may be held safely without the need to massively reduce attendance numbers.

"With the population eager to get out and about, once such restrictions are lifted and certain safety regimes are put in place at each venue or event, the 2021 event season may well be a bumper year.

"2020 saw the lowest fleet utilisation since the formation of Atlas Helicopters in 2001. Typically, each airframe would fly around 300 hours per year. In 2020, this dropped to an average of just 70 hours, with margins on the limited number of flights being substantially reduced to keep crews and airframes flying – effectively a ‘double whammy’ affecting the overall operating effectiveness of the company.

"With the rapid vaccine rollout and spring just around the corner, we are all hoping for a return to normal operations soon. Prior to the third UK lockdown, elite sports were allowed up to 4,000 spectators in certain tier groups and 2,000 in others. It is hoped that by mid-February a return to these numbers may be allowed with a gradual increase once it is deemed safe to do so.”