The H155 Joins the Fleet
A new aircraft joins the GB Helicopters fleet, the Airbus H155. This luxury aircraft is one of the most technologically advanced helicopters in the world. It will serve our VIP charter clients and is based out of Stansted Airport.
The Gold Standard
The H155 is the epitome of luxury helicopter travel. With a level of comfort and refinement that you'd find in a private jet, it caters primarily to the VVIPs. It can carry up to six passengers in full leather seats, in one of the most spacious cabins available in its class. This, combined with its interior soundproofing and shrouded Fenestron tail rotor, provides one of the quietest, smoothest and most comfortable rides possible.
It also boasts one of the largest cargo holds for helicopters of this size. Allowing you to carry that much more with you, making it ideal for airport transfers or getaways to anywhere in the country and northern Europe.
It has a cruising speed of 155KTS and a range of over 400NM, making it the fastest and longest range helicopter in our fleet.
Safety Built In
Designed and built with enhanced safety in mind, the twin-engine H155 features an all glass cockpit, advanced avionics and autopilot assist the pilots in their job of keeping you safe. This makes the helicopter IFR capable, meaning it can fly safely and comfortably at night and in adverse weather conditions.
London Based
With its home at Stansted Airport, it is ideally located for people flying into and out of London for business or pleasure. Within minutes of taking off, it can be over central London and land at London Heliport moments later. This makes the H155 perfect for picking up important guests from London's airports and bringing them to you in style.
Proud to Fly for Pride of Britain
The 2020 Pride of Britain Awards were always going to be a special one. In what has been the most challenging year for us all, people up and down the country stepped up to bring positivity and bravery to a dire situation.
Hosted by Carol Vorderman, the ceremony honours those who have acted bravely or extraordinarily in challenging situations. Usually the event takes place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, this year however, the show would take place outside London's Royal Hospital Chelsea. With no audience and just Carol Vorderman hosting the ceremony, celebrities were deployed around the country to surprise and present the awards to the recipients.
For the opening sequence of the award ceremony, we were tasked with flying Carol into London in our AW109SP helicopter. On her journey through London we hovered over hospitals and police stations to pay tribute to those in the emergency services. These fantastic people have soldiered on through everything that has happened this year while putting themselves at risk.
As Carol made her way over the various landmarks of England’s capital, we filmed from our London based AS355 twin-squirrel, G-LINE. Equipped with our GSS C516 and Sony P1 camera, we captured gorgeous footage of our aircraft as it flew over the city and along the River Thames. Working closely with the ITV production team we spent over an hour and half completing the full shot list for the awards opener.
We returned to skies above London a few days later, this time at night to film the BT Tower. The names of those being honoured appeared one by one on the towers 360° LED display for all of London to see. This was only possible as we operated our Day/Night VFR aircraft along with our IFR capable aircraft. Our pilots are also night rated combined with extensive experience flying at night.
Planning for the shoot took place over the weeks prior along with us being granted various permissions to fly and film over London. This included obtaining non-standard flight numbers from NATS that allowed us to access the controlled airspace over the city.
With Carol Vorderman safely at her destination and all the footage in the bag, it was time to return to base and get ready for our next ITV project, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here.
Helicopter Business Travel
It isn’t every day that your commute makes it to the papers for positive reasons.
Most Monday morning commutes are mundane, frustrating and tiresome according to the latest TUC study. Statistics state there are over three million commuters who travel over two hours each day within the UK; so its no wonder that it's not always a pleasant experience.
But, unlike everyone else, one of our passengers managed to capture some amazing shots of England’s capital as it loomed in fog. Beautiful, stunning images which even made it to The Telegraph, The Times and The Sun.
The fog caused further commute delays on the ground but above the clouds our clients were able to get across the UK quickly and efficiently. Staying relaxed and focused for the day of meetings ahead, they also managed to absorb the scenic surroundings, encapsulating just one of the beauties of business travel via helicopter.
Although The Shard and other high-rise buildings were captured peaking out through low lingering fog is not an everyday sight, a calm comforting environment, and beautifully scenery remains one of the many benefits of utilising helicopters for executive business travel.
Business helicopter charters are fully flexible and work around your schedule and needs.
Allowing you to maximise your time in the office or at a meeting. It also allows you to visit multiple sites in one day, cover large distances in limited timeframes, and avoid the heavily congestive roads and rail during the peak commute times.
Many of our business charter clients choose to do the London commute from Manchester or surrounding areas. Taking merely 1 hour. Our twin-engine helicopters can also support the added convenience of taking you door to door* so there are no airports, waiting lounges or other unnecessary distractions on your journey.
The privacy allows you to relax, in the comfort of the luxury leather interior or utilise the time for reviewing your meeting notes and business planning.
If you are interested in how business helicopter charters could benefit you and your business, contact our operations team at 0800 030 4105 or email us at ops@gbconcierge.co.uk.
* Minimum of 30m2 clear space for landing.
