Nothing quite represented the Celtic Tiger era quite like having your own chopper in the backyard. Now many of these ultimate status symbols have been grounded, writes BRIAN O'CONNELL
FORGET DECKING, Dom Pérignon or credit card debt. Nothing quite represented the Celtic Tiger era quite like having your own chopper in the backyard.
Throughout the noughties, helicopter numbers in Ireland took off at a massive rate. In 1997 the number of helicopters registered in Ireland was a mere 42. A decade later, in 2007, this number had more than trebled, with 162 Irish Aviation Authority registered helicopters in the country.
At the height of the boom, Ireland had more helicopters per capita than the UK, and several international companies had dedicated sales teams servicing the demand for the Irish market.
Pilot schools appeared, additional hangars were built and the latest helicopter models were pre-ordered by many of Ireland’s top developers and businessmen as they whizzed around the country surveying their growing empires or dropping in on their favourite race meetings.
In a report on the popularity of helicopters in The Irish Timesin early 2008, one businessman spoke about travelling from his home in east Cork to work in Athlone by chartered helicopter several times a week. He wanted to be able to drop his kids to school in Cork before 9am and still be in time for work in Athlone at 10am.
One of the reasons he gave for opting for the chopper was that he was prone to carsickness and unable to use his laptop on the car journey without feeling ill. Cost took second place to time, yet the recession is now forcing many executive to alter their travel practices.
The tide has turned. Latest figures from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) show a significant drop in the number of registered helicopters, from 162 in 2007 to 144 currently. “The number of helicopter registration application has ceased. We currently have two applications; normally we would be handling six to eight applications simultaneously,” says a spokesperson for the IAA. “From the helicopter industry information, it seems that a large number of helicopters are for sale. This is backed up by IAA figures. This is more or less the exact opposite to the 2007/2008 figures.”
ONE OF THE country’s best-known aviation companies, Celtic Helicopters, controlled by businessman Ciarán Haughey, has announced it is ceasing its charter service. The company will instead focus on hangaring services for owners who are parking their choppers until the financial environment improves.
The company completed construction of a 16,000sq ft hangar, which can accommodate somewhere between nine and 20 aircraft, depending on size.
Over the past year, many private helicopter owners have grounded or tried to offload their choppers as the economy worsened. Some have done this for financial reasons, while others realise that in the current economic climate it’s perhaps not acceptable to be paying sums of up to €3,000 an hour to get around.
Businessman and star of The Apprentice, Bill Cullen is one of those former high-flyers now facing the prospect of everyday gridlock. Cullen has decided not to take his helicopter out of its hangar this year and is instead "mothballing" the aircraft until the economy improves.
He says he relied on helicopter travel during times when he had to traverse the length and breadth of the country visiting car dealerships.
“It was a business necessity but now with the new motorways it’s easier to get around. There was this image of the helicopter being associated with the Celtic Tiger days, but to me it was a godsend. We have a hotel in Killarney which is a five-hour drive and the helicopter helped us get to and from there much quicker.”
Now though, Cullen feels it’s not right to be splashing out when many are facing hardships. “It’s like in the motor trade,” he says. “No-one wants to be seen in a 09 car if five or six people in their neighbourhood have lost their jobs.”
Cullen says he hopes to use his helicopter during the summer months. Like many owners who have grounded their aircraft, he still pays for regular servicing and maintenance of the craft while it has been parked. Some aircraft require servicing every six months and the decision by companies such as Celtic Helicopters to focus exclusively on maintenance reflects a growing customer need within the industry.
One of the litmus tests for Irish helicopter use will come later this summer at the annual Galway Races. In recent years helicopter travel to and from the racecourse necessitated the building of a dedicated control tower, with the event more in tune with a scene from Black Hawk Downthan an annual race meet. Over 2,000 landings took place during the course of the festival in 2008, compared to 120 in 1991.
At last month’s Punchestown Festival, helicopter landings dropped from 1,200 last year to less than 300 this year. It is estimated that the numbers of landings on the Friday of the festival in 2008 was the same as the total number for the whole week this year.
Organisers at the Galway Festival are currently writing to companies asking if they intend re-applying for landing rights at this year’s festival. Racecourse manager John Moloney says it’s too early to tell what level of chopper traffic this year’s festival will attract, but his “gut feeling is that there will be less this year than last year”.
CHRIS SUMMERS of Executive Helicopters in Galway says that despite the dip in demand for helicopters their business model, which includes sightseeing trips and aerial surveying, means the company is still kept busy. “I wouldn’t expect the traffic at the races to be the same as last year.”
However, he says his company is the dealer for Robinson helicopter models in Ireland and it currently has no second-hand models left as they were all sold. “The new market might be finding it tough, but we’re seeing sales and still plugging away.”
Similarly, Gaelic Helicopters in Cork is finding that business has been affected and diversity is key to survival. While many privately-owned aircraft are flying less frequently in the current climate, maintenance costs still make storing helicopters a costly business.
Commercial director, Gerard Creedon says that “it’s hard to know what the future will bring. Like everyone in business we’re tied to the future of the overall economy. Helicopter travel might have gotten bad press recently, but for business executives it is still an important method of travel. You still have that.
“Where you might notice a fall down is going to the races and that type of travel. But if you’re using the helicopter as a business tool to get from a to b as quickly as possible, then it is still important,” he adds.
Well-known businessman Ben Dunne says he foresaw the recession and decided to offload his aircraft in 2008. “I had four million quid tied up in it, and this idea of having it sit in the shed until things get better is nonsense. I couldn’t afford to have four million tied up. I was delighted I got rid of it when I did – I wouldn’t like to be trying now, it might still be in the shed,” he says.
When asked how he finds running a business with his feet on the ground, Dunne says it’s a matter of back to basics. “Of course I can manage without it. Helicopter travel to my mind is a luxury. It’s doubtful I would get one again. You could buy one handy now, but the purchase price is one thing – running the aircraft is very expensive.”
However, he says that the aviation industry’s loss might be nature’s gain: “If you need to know anything about helicopter use at the moment, all you need to do is listen to the sky. You can hear birds singing again.”
The lowdown . . . on the high-fliers
- Prices for a helicopter range from €100,000 for an older used model, up to €10 million for a larger new aircraft.
- The number of Irish Aviation Authority registered craft rose 16 per cent last year to 162.
- As of January 2008, 199 people held private pilot helicopter licences in Ireland. This figure was only 51 in 1999.
- Between 2003 and 2007, the number of accidents involving helicopters in Ireland rose sharply, from 11 incidents in 2004 to a high of 17 in 2007.
