In January this year, DHL Express, in partnership with Helinet Aviation of Van Nuys, Calif., began an early-morning express helicopter delivery service, operating four days a week (Tuesday to Friday). The service provides aerial movement of time sensitive financial documents and packages from Los Angeles (LAX) international airport to downtown Los Angeles for several large banking clients.
DHL began the service so that it could ensure early morning delivery by eliminating freeway traffic delays. Having the ability to pass over any freeway obstructions and travel by air can reduce delivery times from several hours to about 12 minutes, the company said.
“In the 1990s, Helinet provided helicopter services to transport financial instruments for banks, [but] that business steadily decreased as local banking transactions became primarily electronic,” said Jack Snyder, vice president at Helinet Aviation. “DHL approached us late last year about operating a helicopter on its behalf to deliver packages to its banking customers in the downtown Los Angeles area, [and] from the moment we began discussing a working relationship, we recognized that our partnership with DHL would provide a vital service for DHL’s customers.”
Helinet is a well-established operator in Los Angeles that has a mixed fleet of helicopters ranging from the light Bell 206 JetRanger and Airbus Helicopters AS350, to corporate and medically-equipped Sikorsky S-76s. It uses an Airbus Helicopters AS355 F TwinStar for the DHL contract on a turnkey basis. The contract provides the helicopter, pilots and maintenance. The twin engine Rolls-Royce 250-C20B powered TwinStar can lift up to 800 pounds of documents, packages and boxes. Helinet and DHL said it has the right combination of speed, safety and ease of loading and unloading of packages. Helinet said the AS355 F has high availability rate, but when it goes down for maintenance, the operator provides a backup aircraft.
The distinctive yellow and red DHL helicopter is now a regular sight in the L.A. skies. After leaving its base at Van Nuys around 6 a.m., the helicopter flies to DHL’s gateway facility at Los Angeles International Airport. This is where it picks up packages arriving that morning from its U.S. hub in Cincinnati, Ohio. Another flight arriving from Hong Kong in the morning also carries packages destined for downtown. These specific packages are then separated and transported by a DHL employee to a nearby helipad at LAX where the helicopter is waiting.
Once loaded with bags of documents and packages, it makes the 12-minute flight to a rooftop heliport in downtown Los Angeles. Upon arrival, a DHL ground based courier meets the helicopter, helps unloads the aircraft and drives the packages to their final destination. The goal is to have the packages delivered and the helicopter back at Van Nuys by 7 a.m. After the helicopter’s morning flight, its doors, which have DHL markings, are replaced with unmarked doors — and it then continues its day doing medical and utility flights. If available, the TwinStar is available to DHL off-hours if it has an unscheduled delivery.
Having the ability to provide consistent and reliable service is essential for a delivery company, especially in support of the high-stakes banking and financial world. So far, the partnership between a highly experienced delivery company and a highly experienced local helicopter operator is proving to be a popular combination.
