Approximate costs of helicopter/light aircraft charter?

[anonymous-user]

I live near a fairly rural but growing airport.

Aside from a relatively low number of commercial flights, the airport handles private jets, light aircraft, and also a couple of different 'VIP' helicopter charter companies.

I have never really looked into the costs of private aircraft as naturally I assumed the costs would be astronomical (as I'm sure they are for private jets) but I then discovered 'Wingly' and was fascinated to see that various light aircraft owners/pilots are offering many flights to places all over the country and beyond for what appear to be very reasonable and affordable figures.

But I have yet to see this option appear for helicopters.

So before I make an absolute arse of myself and call up the helicopter charter companies and be told that its £5000 to fly somewhere an hour or so away, does anyone have any insight into the costs of private helicopter flights?

Any other info on private jet costs would be appreciated but just because I'm nosy!

Thanks!

[Dr Jekyll]

Small helicopters might be around £500 an hour. The reason Wingly is pretty cheap is that the pilot can only charge the cost incurred in making the flight (so no contribution towards hangarage, capital cost etc) divided by the number of occupants. I believe Wingly does sometimes include helicopters

[anonymous-user]

Dr Jekyll said:

Small helicopters might be around £500 an hour. The reason Wingly is pretty cheap is that the pilot can only charge the cost incurred in making the flight (so no contribution towards hangarage, capital cost etc) divided by the number of occupants. I believe Wingly does sometimes include helicopters

Thanks for that.

Very interesting.

£500 an hour isn't as bad as I thought.

I assume the cost racks up though if you want to fly somewhere an hour away, and then have the helicopter wait a few hours before flying you back.

There must be waiting fees on top of the the £1000 it would cost to have a return trip?

[Dr Jekyll]

Lord Marylebone said:

Thanks for that.

Very interesting.

£500 an hour isn't as bad as I thought.

I assume the cost racks up though if you want to fly somewhere an hour away, and then have the helicopter wait a few hours before flying you back.

There must be waiting fees on top of the the £1000 it would cost to have a return trip?

My knowledge is more of self fly hire rather than charter, this depends on the time involved and how busy they are but typically you can take the aircraft away all day but will be charged a minimum of three or four hours flying. On a quiet day they might be happy for say 2 hours flying over a three hour period and just charge for the flying. Or 2 hours flying and 3 hours for the pilot.

[Chrisgr31]

Can’t help in the slightest with fhe costs but I was talking to a fellow commuter about a neighbour of my parents who becoming older used a driver to get from her home in Sussex to her other home in Devon. However driver is no longer available so she goes by train and has been singing the praise of her local ticket office who arrange her travel.

I went on to tell him about my experience of attending this lady’s husbands funeral in Devon where it cost £36 to get down there on the train first class, but cheapest fare back was £125 so I came back Standard class.

He then said a friend of his had a wedding to go to in Devon and she didn’t want to drive, so she chartered a helicopter to fly her from a neighbouring field to the wedding and back.

He asked the price to be told I can’t tell you and I definitely don’t want my husband knowing! It was well into 4 figures apparently

[anonymous-user]

Well based on what I'm seeing available though Wingly at my local airport I shall be trying it out as a means of actually going somewhere for a weekend.

I notice the Wingly guys are very flexible and offer trips to Dublin, Channel Islands etc and are happy to go there on a Saturday morning and back on a Sunday night etc.

[Gary29]

Yep, £500 an hour is about the going rate for a heli with pilot.

[djc206]

Lord Marylebone said:

Well based on what I'm seeing available though Wingly at my local airport I shall be trying it out as a means of actually going somewhere for a weekend.

I notice the Wingly guys are very flexible and offer trips to Dublin, Channel Islands etc and are happy to go there on a Saturday morning and back on a Sunday night etc.

They like the Channel Islands because of the savings on fuel. One of the guys I work with often flies there.

[Nigel_O]

My son and I chartered a small helicopter (with pilot, obv.) for a photography trip round London. The cost would have been in the region of about £400, but we went mad and asked for the doors to be taken off, which bumped it up to around £600

Not cheap, but a great experience - we're looking to do it again, probably around the coast somewhere

[7795]

We've done Biggin Hill to Sevis (c.25kms south of Dieppe) in a small helicopter more times than I can remember and it has been between £1250 - £2100 and is c.130kms one way.

There is space to land in the garden. Mostly, if it's booked well in advance, someone will take the trip back to the UK and split the costs.

[neilf]

Generally agree with what’s been said before but there are other factors to be taken into consideration.

Looked a chartering a heli to FoS earlier this year. Hourly cost was as expensive as expected but what really bumped up the price was the ‘additional costs’. They wanted a further £150ph for every hour the heli/pilot was waiting before the journey home and another £250 for the landing fees at Goodwood.

There are several sites online that will give you instant charter quotes for all types of aircraft.

[anonymous-user]

neilf said:

There are several sites online that will give you instant charter quotes for all types of aircraft.

Do you have links for those please?

[48k]

neilf said:

Generally agree with what’s been said before but there are other factors to be taken into consideration.

Looked a chartering a heli to FoS earlier this year. Hourly cost was as expensive as expected but what really bumped up the price was the ‘additional costs’. They wanted a further £150ph for every hour the heli/pilot was waiting before the journey home and another £250 for the landing fees at Goodwood.

There are several sites online that will give you instant charter quotes for all types of aircraft.

Goodwood is hideously expensive to land at for the Revival and FoS. It's a case of supply and demand. Landing fees are expensive and using up parking space is too. As a pilot you have to book well in advance and get issued a very narrow window for an arrivals slot which you have to hit otherwise it screws up the system for everyone else. So whilst heli's are expensive anyway, the company you spoke to would have had to pass on the inflated costs that Goodwood would have been charging them.

[Geneve]

neilf said:

Generally agree with what’s been said before but there are other factors to be taken into consideration.

Looked a chartering a heli to FoS earlier this year. Hourly cost was as expensive as expected but what really bumped up the price was the ‘additional costs’. They wanted a further £150ph for every hour the heli/pilot was waiting before the journey home and another £250 for the landing fees at Goodwood.

There are several sites online that will give you instant charter quotes for all types of aircraft.

The cheapest helicopter for charter is probably the Robinson R44 (piston engine, pilot +3). Probably starting at c.£400 p/h + from lift to landing. Turbines, such as the venerable Bell 206, are going to start at £500+ p/h, and a nice Squirrel will be about £900 - but faster, more comfortable, more seats and sounds better.

You also need to add 'positioning' costs if the helicopter is coming to, say, your house. £150 p/h on the ground seems steep but, yes, Goodwood FoS landing fees were £250. And, best to avoid Battersea Heliport

[ghost83]

I hate wingly because pilots spend way over 100k to gain their commercials and atpl licences and private pilots are basically doing that job which is taking it away from those that have paid so much!

Anyways I went from Leeds Bradford to bagden hall which was a 25 min flight in a as355 twin engined squirrel which cost me 900 but I know them! I think usual cost is £2000 per hour for that aircraft whereas a jet ranger is about 600 an hour and a r44 probably around 400-500 per hour

[MarkwG]

ghost83 said:

I hate wingly because pilots spend way over 100k to gain their commercials and atpl licences and private pilots are basically doing that job which is taking it away from those that have paid so much!

That's a simplistic view of the flying market: Wingly aren't in competition for anyone with a commercial licence. The aircraft are flying anyway, it's just filling the seats if there's anyone who wants to go that way, it's not an "Air Uber".

Someone spending £100k+ on a commercial licence isn't planning on flying bugsmashers to Jersey for the day, they're going for jets via the training providers & the airline bonding system. Alternatively, if anyone is planning the old style hours building route, surely signing for Wingly is an opportunity to offset some of the costs...

[anonymous-user]

ghost83 said:

I hate wingly because pilots spend way over 100k to gain their commercials and atpl licences and private pilots are basically doing that job which is taking it away from those that have paid so much!

I hardly think Wingly is any form of competition to commercial pilots.

[48k]

I thought PPL holders could not "be paid or receive consideration" in exchange for a flight so how is Wingly legal or have the CAA rules changed over here ? Hasn't the FAA shut down similar flight advertising websites in the US for the same reasons?

[Dr Jekyll]

48k said:

I thought PPL holders could not "be paid or receive consideration" in exchange for a flight so how is Wingly legal or have the CAA rules changed over here ? Hasn't the FAA shut down similar flight advertising websites in the US for the same reasons?

It's OK to share the cost of the flight, which is what Wingly does. All the occupants including the pilot are effectively paying for their own seat. This is nothing new, Wingly is just a different way of potential passengers and pilots getting in touch with each other than the club notice board.

[uncinqsix]

48k said:

I thought PPL holders could not "be paid or receive consideration" in exchange for a flight so how is Wingly legal or have the CAA rules changed over here ? Hasn't the FAA shut down similar flight advertising websites in the US for the same reasons?

The FAA (and a few other jurisdictions) allow cost sharing, but don't allow the flights to be advertised. The UK CAA and EASA loosened things up a few years back and now allow advertising (which gave rise to Wingly). The advantage of cost sharing (from a regulator's perspective) is that it gives PPL holders a cost effective way of getting their hours up, which means that they'll be safer in the long run.