ELITE Helicopters is expanding - with a new base at Chobham airport offering flight training and commercial air transport services.

Sharon Douglas & Glenn Curtis who have co-owned and managed Elite Helicopters for the last 21 years, consider this to be a perfect extension to their already very successful business at Goodwood Aerodrome in West Sussex.

“It offers us a ‘corridor of opportunity’ as we will now be able to offer a variety of helicopter flight courses from either base, effectively giving us an area of operation for the training school stretching between the South coast and London, and the location will also ideally complement our already very busy air charter operation.

“Elite operates as an approved training organisation and conducts private pilot training as well as flight instructor courses. The company will be operating the Guimbal Cabri G2, Robinson R44, Bell 206 Jet Ranger and AS350 Single Squirrel helicopter from both the new operation at Fairoaks and Goodwood. We are hoping to add more aircraft types as we go forward and meet demand. “

Elite Helicopters operates a fleet of 15 single and twin engine helicopters (Robinson R44, Bell Jet Ranger, Bell Long Ranger, AS350 B3 & B3e Squirrel and Agusta A109 Power, Grand and SP models) on Commercial Air Transport operations and we will be adding the Agusta A169 to its fleet later this year, with two aircraft intended to be operational by the start of 2017.

Glenn said: “As well as expanding our training facility, our intention is to enhance the charter service we already offer with particular emphasis at Fairoaks on services to and from London and the heliport at Battersea, the special events at Goodwood and all the major horse race meetings.

“We will also be offering general and corporate charter, aerial filming and photography, sightseeing trips and pleasure flights alongside the flight training business from this new location. “We are really excited about this expansion and are looking forward to the challenges ahead – onwards and upwards.”