Saturday 10th March saw Heliair launch their new base at Fairoaks, Surrey on the south west outskirts of London.  A popular airfield with an 800m hard runway, Fairoaks has long been known for training and charter work on both fixed and rotary wing, and is currently going through an evolution after the failure of Longmint group.  It’s location close to high-value residential areas, such as the famous Wentworth and St George’s hill estates, puts them right in a population well able to afford private aircraft.  Fairoaks is also the base of the British Helicopter Association.

Other recent news at Fairoaks we have covered include the establishment of Gama Engineering, new operator Chobham Helicopters and the recent move of rotary wing operator Starspeed from Blackbushe.

Heliair has taken over the Alan Mann Helicopters office building, following the demise fo that company.  For the launch event, Heliair brought in a Robinson R66, a JetRanger and a Bell 47 and gave most visitors an experience flight in the 47 or the R66.  Their office here starts with a Robinson R44 based for training work, and they expect to expand on this as the demand builds up – in particular they expect to add a Bell 206 JetRanger before long.  In due course they expect to start charter work from here too.  Their lease at Fairoaks currently prevents them operating Robinson R22 helicopters, but they are working with the airfield operators to find a way around this.

Heliair has recently taken new opportunities as they present themselves in the recession.  The failure of Longmint group also opened up the opportunity of their base at Thruxton, a phoenix rising from the ashes of Fast Helicopters there, and HeliHub.com suspects they continue to look out for more.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com