A Success Story from the Lower Austrian Alpine Foothills
8 June 2024 | Blog #6
Nestled in the idyllic Alpine foothills, about an hour's drive west of Vienna, is the headquarters of Heli-Line and Helitrade. These two companies, led by founder and CEO Mr. Wolfgang Pitterle, specialize in helicopter services and trading. The businesses are based in Kilb (Melk District, province of Lower Austria, Austria), a tranquil place not immediately associated with high-tech and helicopters.
From Passionate Pilot to Entrepreneur
Mr. Wolfgang Pitterle, a helicopter pilot himself, founded Helitrade in 1991 and Heli-Line three years later. Before this, he was already a passionate helicopter pilot and established the company site right next to his parental home. Both companies specialize in the American helicopter brand Robinson Helicopter Company, whose factory is located in Torrance, California. A significant milestone was the rollout of the R44 model in 1993, which was significantly cheaper to purchase and operate compared to other models in its class. The focus is on three different models: R22, R44, and R66. The largest model (R66) can carry up to 4 passengers in addition to the pilot. Heli-Line's fleet is constantly changing and almost exclusively features the latest models. Additionally, Heli-Line's fleet includes a Eurocopter AS 350 BA ÉCUREUIL.
The heliport in Kilb, whose approval process took from 1994 to 2001, bears the ICAO code LOAY. Other company locations are at the airports in Linz and Graz. The Kilb site was expanded in 2011 with a hangar that currently accommodates ten helicopters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, additional office and training rooms were built.
A Wide Range of Services: Charter Flights, Flight School, Sales, and Maintenance
Heli-Line offers a diverse range of services, including taxi flights, scenic flights over picturesque landscapes like the Wachau and Ötscher, and special transports. Although charter flights are economically challenging, customer satisfaction and safety remain the top priorities.
The company is particularly proud of its flight school, the oldest helicopter flight school in Austria. Approximately 20 pilots complete their professional pilot training each year, which takes about a year (no prior aviation knowledge is necessary). Overall, around 60 helicopter professional pilots are trained annually in Austria by various flight schools.
In the helicopter trade, Helitrade is one of the largest distributors of the Robinson Helicopter Company in Europe. The economic attractiveness of the trade business is significantly higher than that of flying. The delivery time for new helicopters is currently about 18 months, with the purchase price paid in full upfront. The delivery of a helicopter comes in two "larger crates" as pre-assembled major parts: one crate with the tail, rotor blades, and skid assembly, and one crate with the chassis. Delivery is usually by air freight from the USA to Austria. Transfer to end customers within Europe is handled by transfer flights. Helitrade is the only dealer in Europe that always has new helicopters in stock for its customers.
Furthermore, the maintenance and repair of both the company's own fleet and external helicopters of the Robinson brand are carried out by in-house helicopter mechanics.
Challenges and Future Prospects
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a complete halt in charter flights for helicopters, and the demand for helicopter services has only slowly recovered since then.
One of the biggest current challenges is landing permits in Austria. Every landing must be approved, which can often take up to six months. The company desires a central responsibility within the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation, and Technology. Currently, landing permits are issued decentrally by the respective state governments. Each application is currently handled by experts who suffer from capacity constraints. The (future) pilots of rescue helicopters are partly trained by Heli-Line and must have many years of flight experience to qualify as rescue helicopter pilots. If these career aspirants cannot demonstrate specific experience (landings in various terrains), this is an insufficient qualification for rescue helicopters. In Italy, Switzerland, France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and for example in England, no landing permits are required. Wolfgang Pitterle sees an urgent need for improvement in this area to prevent a bottleneck of future professional pilots.
Alternative propulsion technologies are not yet widespread in helicopters. Although electric drives exist, the batteries are still too heavy and thus limit the applications. The company Lycoming is the world's largest manufacturer (with a market share of about 90%) of propulsion technologies in the combustion class of Robinson helicopters. The continuous load (expressed in durability and reliability) of the engines is the biggest challenge, which significantly limits the market for potential new providers. Helicopters generally have gasoline engines and are powered by AVGAS (Aviation Gasoline). More diesel engines are desired, but the related vibrations (which are transmitted to the helicopter body) are the major challenges. There has been little progress in noise reduction in recent years, although turbines sound more pleasant than combustion engines.
Looking Ahead
Over the past three decades, Heli-Line and Helitrade have established themselves as key players in the helicopter industry. With a clear focus on customer satisfaction and safety, the company looks optimistically to the future and remains a pioneer in the world of helicopter services and technology in its specific segment. Autonomous flying and quadcopters are becoming increasingly significant, and unmanned aviation is within reach. The Robinson R44 model is already remotely controlled, but everything is still in the development stage. For the next ten years, Wolfgang Pitterle plans to expand the hangar in Kilb with a third hall. In the medium term, his son is expected to take over the company.
More information about the two companies can be found at www.heliline.at and www.helitrade.at. I look forward to some feedback on this article.
