HI Uplift: UK charter enters ‘crazy period’ of special events

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by Mike Stones

27 June 2025

Charting the charter market were (L to R): Jordan Smith, SaxonAir Charter and William Fanshawe, Flexjet Helicopters.

The UK helicopter charter market is navigating “the crazy period” of the special events season, according to William Fanshawe, MD, Flexjet Helicopters.

Speaking at Helicopter Investor’s London 2025 conference earlier this month, Fanshawe set out the busy summer events calendar: “We start with Royal Ascot [the horseracing event, which opened on Tuesday, June 17th], followed by Glastonbury [Festival, which started this week], followed by Silverstone [the British Grand Prix], followed by the Goodwood Festival of Speed, followed by the Open [golf tournament].”

It’s a hectic programme that revealed the UK helicopter charter market at its busiest. “You’ve got five weeks where pretty much every helicopter in the country will be chartered … it really is the height of the season. Both twin and single engines have high utilisation during that busy period,” he told the session Is Charter Rising?

After the summer rush, the market returns a steady flow of charters for the rest of the year.

Summer peak

While identifying helicopter charter’s summer peak is easy, describing the UK charter fleet is more problematic. “It’s quite a hard metric to track,” said Jordan Smith, head of Ground Operations (Rotary), SaxonAir Charter. “For example, when an owner flies from his private house to a business meeting is that a helicopter charter?”

Smith estimates the UK charter fleet to number about 100 aircraft, of which about 40 he describes as “real regulars that you’ll see day in, day out going in and out of London [Heliport]”. But it’s difficult to judge, he concedes. Not least, because helicopters – unlike fixed-wing aircraft – do not need airports to launch and land helicopter missions.

One metric Smith can share offers some insight into the size of the market at its summer peak. During the 2023 Silverstone motor racing event, one weekend saw 900 helicopter movements into the racetrack with the majority on the Sunday of the Grand Prix itself. In general, he thinks the split between flights chartered by wealthy individuals and corporate clients is about half each.

Fanshaw, at Flexjet Helicopters, agrees defining the UK charter market is difficult. “It’s a complicated one [picture], because most of the helicopters in the UK charter market are principally owned by individuals who offset some of their costs through charter. So, it’s a challenging environment, and really availability and access to those aircraft is the key issue.”

Business and leisure flights

Also, it can be difficult to distinguish between business and leisure flights for ultra-high net worth individuals. “They say they’re always working, especially when the tax man is talking to them,” said Fanshawe. “But whether they’re on leisure or at work is very difficult for us to say.”

Flexjet Helicopters was established to look after Flexjet fractional clients and related companies. The private jet provider offers shared ownership or an access programme for helicopters. It also offers on-demand charter programmes and management services for private helicopter owners. One key feature is helicopter transfers to and from airports for Flexjet business jet clients.

“If you have a Gulfstream G650 fraction with Flexjet, you’ll get a number of transfers which you can use both in New York, Miami or in London. Clients are using these to move from the airport into the city,” said Fanshawe.

‘The big boy’

Its fleet of owned and operated helicopters includes Sikorsky S-76, Augusta AW109 and AW169 helicopters. (Flexjet Helicopters operates three S76 C++s, two for the UK market, one for the European market). “And then we’ve got the big boy – the S-92, which we took over operating end of last year for a private owner,” said Fanshawe. “I think it’s the only charterable VIP S-92 in the world.”

Whatever the model, a key reassurance for Flexjet clients is that the twin-engine aircraft are always operated by two pilots wearing the same uniform with the same Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) ratings as the fixed-wing pilots.

“What we encourage, and mostly does happen, is the captain will come down from the jet, walk the passengers over to the helicopter and introduce them to me by name, if I’m standing there as a pilot, taking them onto the helicopter. You’re transferring that operation,” added Fanshawe.

Last year, Flexjet Helicopters logged about 1,800 hours of flying, which included around 4,000 movements.

‘Getting owners’ release’

SaxonAir Charter owns one of the eight aircraft in its fleet, with the rest managed. “You’re constantly getting owners’ release [for aircraft] and juggling their usage,” said Smith. Its main charter workhorse helicopter is the AW109. One is owned by a person who rarely uses it and last year the aircraft flew about 320 charter hours. About 60% of the company’s charter flights come from brokers, said Smith.

Flexjet Helicopters sees charter demand steadily rising, mitigated, in part, due to the availability of aircraft. Much of the UK charter market is driven by owners chartering their aircraft but the ownership pool is showing signs of drying. “We are losing clients out of the UK as ultra-high-net-worths move out of the UK. Four helicopter owners sold their helicopters last year and left the country, so their helicopters aren’t out there to be chartered,” said Fanshawe.

‘Relatively bulletproof’

But he remains positive about the prospects for growth. “It’s a relatively bulletproof part of the market. It doesn’t get hit too hard by external factors, be they political or economic,” he said. “It’s steadily trending in the right direction for us.”

Meanwhile, also available from our Helicopter Investor London 2025 conference are insights on Milestone Aviation’s key lessons from the past and Sikorsky’s firm commitment to the S-92 platform. If you enjoyed reading this content and think colleagues would too, please email them this link to sign up for our free newsletter.

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