The arrival of G-HAZR, the new Thunder 2, has been something we’ve been excited about since the early murmurs of this fleet replenishment. For us, it is the realisation of the change in airframe that we decided upon to enhance our offering and ensure we are always pushing ourselves to be leaders in the onshore UK VIP helicopter industry.
The outgoing Thunder 2, G-HZRD (Agusta AW119Kx) was a staple of our charter fleet from launch, and popped up at all the notable events in the calendar in recent years. It was perhaps most often seen at The London Heliport, Battersea where it was one of the few single engine aircraft certified to operate from there. The bold green livery stood out from the rest, and the yellow ‘2’ could be seen from the street as the aircraft cut about the city. Unrivalled in it’s class, the AW119Kx was the perfect precursor to the Trekker – both being skidded aircraft, capable of setting down on the UK’s terrain year-round and also having excellent payload capabilities compared to the competition.
Earlier this year, the introduction of the new Thunder 1 (G-THDA) was a story of enhancement - the benefits to clients and pilots alike of the Trekker versus the GrandNew was an exciting development for us, but one of fine margins as we looked to dial in the ultimate charter offering. The reason for the excitement with the new Thunder 2, was that this was where our statement of intent was going to be felt most – shifting from the single engine AW119Kx to a second twin engine Trekker, with a refined paint scheme to join Thunder 1 in the role out of a serious, VIP operation, flying day and night with enhanced weather resilience and IFR capability.
