HeliGroup, a subsidiary of the UK's Helicopter Services, has opened for business. The company aims to focus on the UK rotary charter and management market, building upon the advanced training that Helicopter Services currently provides.

Created by entrepreneur Matthew Munson, HeliGroup will serve high net worth individuals and corpor-ations, utilising a mixed fleet. It is offering a concierge service including a weather guarantee whereby an in-house chauffeur team ensures clients reach their destination regardless of weather conditions, at no extra cost.

"Helicopter Services is primarily a training company," says Munson. "For at least 20 years its focus has been on the higher level training, so instrument-rated CPLs, flight instructor training and so on. It is very good at that, but it has the staff and expertise specifically designed for this function. HeliGroup is looking after the high end customer in terms of aircraft management.

We have got an IFR AOC so it means that we can look after people's machines; we have got the expertise in terms of the pilots to be able to fly those machines, and provide a tailored service. It is Helicopter Services' AOC, so it is effectively our own AOC."

The company has taken on Ed Sale, who used to be sales manager for Airbus Helicopters. "We are trying to focus and build upon the expertise and the resources we have already got," Munson adds. "We have taken on an AW109SP, factory-new, that we received about three months ago. We are currently negotiating on another AW109, and that gives us our independence. We want to offer brand-new, high end machines.

"We are at Wycombe Air Park and are considering opening another base. We are talking with Oxford but nothing is confirmed yet."