Discount retailer Home Bargains, based in the city of Liverpool in the north-west of the UK, has taken delivery of a Bell 429. This is believed to replace their Eurocopter AS350B3 G-GMCM, which is five years old and has under 750 hours on the airframe. The new aircraft was seen at Blackpool airport on Wednesday 18th, and has been registered in the tax-efficient Isle of Man. Home Bargins is the trading name of T J Morris Ltd, which was set up by Tom Morris in 1976 and today turns over around £900M (approx US $1.44B).

HeliHub.com understands that this 429 has the weight increase approved – another reason it is on the Isle of Man register as EASA and FAA have not yet approved the 429 at the max take-off weight of 7,500lb, an increase of 500lb over the standard weight.

Home Bargains describes itself thus on its website “The best brands at the lowest prices, with over 200 stores throughout the UK. TJ Morris Ltd, trading as Home Bargains, is one of the UK’s fastest growing discount retailers. Home Bargains has over 200 stores throughout the UK and plans to expand this to over 500 stores by 2018. We aim to offer the lowest prices in the UK on top quality, branded goods.”  The Sunday Times newspaper assessed the Morris family wealth at £1.22B ($1.97M) in their “Rich List 2013”, which was published in April of this year.

This corporate 429 follows the UK’s first 429 which is operated by National Grid on powerline patrol.

Photo (c) Copyright 2013 of Mike Powney – reproduced here with his permission.

Ben Haverdee – HeliHub.com