Albatros Aircraft Corp has introduced an AgustaWestland AW109S Grand into the promising Alberta executive charter market.
The wealthy province is home to a large number of Canada’s helicopters, but the majority of the aircraft are configured for utility work in the north — not point-to-point executive transport.
The AW109S is owned by Calgary-based financial guru and philanthropist David Bissett, and managed by Albatros, which recently began promoting executive use of the twin-engine instrument flight rules (IFR) helicopter in a city that is home to a large corporate fixed-wing fleet.
Bissett told Vertical he realized a few years ago that a helicopter could “save a lot of time traveling from my home [next to Calgary’s downtown public use heliport] to Edmonton to attend board meetings — and to my ranch south of Lethbridge — but I couldn’t justify buying a helicopter just for my own needs.”
New Opportunity
The business case for buying a helicopter improved when the then-mayor of Edmonton launched a spirited campaign to close the downtown Edmonton City Centre Airport by Dec. 1, 2013. This would force all business aircraft to utilize Edmonton International Airport in Leduc (YEG), about 16 miles (26 kilometers) to the southwest, explained Bissett.
“I knew a lot of people [who were] used to flying to Edmonton on short notice to meet with the municipal or provincial government, [who] would now have to spend 30 to 45 minutes driving each way to the international airport.”
Bissett was convinced that other business executives would be interested in flying between downtown Calgary and Edmonton by helicopter — as, taking about one hour, it will soon be the quickest way to travel between the two cities.
He approached Joe Viveiros, operations manager and a helicopter pilot at Albatros Aircraft Corp, to help select a suitable twin-engine IFR helicopter for personal and charter use — one that could cope with Calgary’s location just 50 miles (80 kms) east of the Rocky Mountains.
“We looked at a number of twin engine helicopters before we selected the AgustaWestland Grand,” says Viveiros. “We were seeking a helicopter with great OEI [one engine inoperative] performance that could take off from Calgary [3,500 feet above sea level] on a 30C [86 F] day, and fly over the Rockies at 10,000 feet to Invermere, B.C., with five people onboard.
“We looked at the [Sikorsky] S-76 C+ and Bell 430 before narrowing our selection to the AW109E Power and AW109S Grand. Both would have done the job, but we selected the Grand for its larger cabin and higher speed.”
The low-time AW109S arrived in Calgary in late 2012, and was added to the Albatros Charter certificate in August.
Albatros has also secured landing rights at a private heliport in southeast Edmonton, 15 minutes’ drive from downtown.
In addition to transporting Bissett, the Italian built helicopter has flown oil and pipeline executives to remote field sites, Calgary executives to second homes in the B.C. Rockies, and has been utilized by some of the charities Bissett supports — including the Nature Conservatory, Pheasants Forever, and Ducks Unlimited’s Shell Buffalo Hills Conservation Ranch.
“It’s early days, but in the last month-and-a-half, the helicopter has been flying more and more as the marketing program begins,” said Bissett in the first week of November.
