Luxaviation Helicopters offers door-to-door private aviation for VVIPs

CEO Charlotte Pedersen's new division completes Luxaviation Group's private aviation offering

Transcript

Luxaviation Helicopters is the first global helicopter management company for VVIPs. Its parent Luxaviation Group has been delivering business aviation for 10 years, but this new helicopter division means the company can now deliver a complete private aviation service from pickup to final destination. CEO Charlotte Pedersen explains that clients seek luxury helicopter service when time really matters, and discusses what goes on behind the scenes to make sure that the passengers’ experience of getting from A to B is simple and special as possible.

European CEO: Charlotte, why now for Luxaviation Helicopters? What’s driven the demand and enabled the potential for this service?

Charlotte Pedersen: Well, I would say there’s always been a demand for helicopter transport – whether it’s been for transporting workers to oil and gas platforms, medical reasons, for search and rescue, and also for VIP helicopters.

Our group, we are a global service provider for people who need jets or helicopters for transport, for ownership. It’s a type of client where comfort and time matters.

So, I can give you an example. If you here in London need to go to New York, the flight itself takes maybe five hours. But the time you use from your home address until you sit in the aircraft might be three hours; and the same between the New York airport and your end destination – also three hours.

If you take a helicopter, you can reduce those three hours to 20 minutes. So that’s why you need a helicopter.

European CEO: How does Luxaviation Helicopters interact with your business jets? Talk me through a typical customer experience.

Charlotte Pedersen: A typical client experience would be that the client needs to go from A to B; whether it’s a private garden to an airport, or maybe a private yacht.

Our most important task is to make life easy for our clients. So, all it takes is a phone call or an email. We analyse the best option for the client – it can be a jet between the airports, it can be a helicopter at the end destination. Or maybe even a full helicopter flight.

Further to that, we take care of everything around it. We ensure that there is limo transport if that is needed. That there’s catering on board. We can take care of the dog – we have dog menus! We take care of the children.

We can also take care of special moments – prepare the flight for a honeymoon, for whatever the request is. It’s a dedicated service down to the specific needs and wishes of the client. And we want every trip to be above the client’s expectations.

European CEO: In order to achieve that high level of service – let’s go behind the scenes a little – how much work is going on?

Charlotte Pedersen: A lot of work! For the customer of course, it’s a phone call, and that’s it. But behind the scenes there’s a lot of preparation, a lot of documentation that needs to be ready. Maintenance needs to be performed, machines need to be checked. We need to have regulations in place, we need to have manuals, procedures, training. Work according to the local regulations, regional regulations, with regard to not only aviation but maritime regulations – because we sometimes fly to yachts.

And because of all that, we have employed the most professional of the professionals. They are all aviation managers, looking 10 steps ahead, to ensure that everything is taken care of, and that we’ll have a happy client.

European CEO: Is anybody else offering this comprehensive service?

Charlotte Pedersen: Yes, I’m sure there are other really good operators, but there are not that many. And the reason for that is, it’s a rather complicated operation.

To transport a helicopter – let’s say – from the UK to the Caribbean. You can’t fly, of course! So you need to put the helicopter basically in a box and get it there. And for that purpose you need technicians, you need approvals, you need the right transport machines to transport the helicopter. And this is what we are experts in.

European CEO: What else does the future hold for business aviation?

Charlotte Pedersen: I believe the future is very bright – both for business aviation in general, but especially for my helicopter area.

First of all, all the manufacturers are predicting that VIP helicopter deliveries will go up as much as 30 percent over the next five years. Ultra-high-net-worth individuals are also expected to grow by approximately 30 percent over the next five years. And the next generation of ultra-high net worths – they are self-made. And with this, that you are self-made, comes a wish to enjoy. You have worked hard for this; now it’s time to benefit while you can.

For the helicopter area this is good news, because helicopters mean freedom to go wherever you want, whenever you want. So helicopters are very attractive for this generation of the new ultra-high-net-worths.

European CEO: Charlotte Pedersen, thank you very much.

Charlotte Pedersen: Thank you.