Aviation business thrives
A UK aviation business with a fleet of 16 aircraft has adapted and flourished during lockdown.
RVL Group has continued to help clients with their cargo and passenger requirements during the pandemic.
Based at East Midlands Airport, the business has just adapted a new Beechcraft King Air B200 so that the eight seats can be quickly removed to make room for cargo – providing it with the best of both worlds.
It invested $40,000 having the new flooring system made and shipped over from the States.
The team said a typical charter could see the plane carry 1,500 lbs of freight from the north Leicestershire airport to Le Bourget, Paris, for a fee of around £5,000.
The new plane means RVL now has four turbo-prop King Air aircraft in operation, and the new configuration can be put in in just 60 minutes.
It also operates Cessnas.
It comes as East Midlands Airport itself reported a big rise in cargo flights during lockdown, with DHL – another East Midlands tenant – launching new routes to Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and JFK.
RVL was set up in 2007, and relocated from Coventry Airport to a purpose-built hangar and maintenance facility in the East Midlands in 2010.
It provides services to public sector clients ranging from aerial surveillance and surveying, to ad hoc and longer-term passenger and cargo charters, and even aerial spraying of pollution dispersants.
Destinations it flies to range from Belfast, Dublin and Edinburgh to the Czech Republic or Italy.
It notched up a record number of flights and flying hours in July.
The business leases the $5 million King Air - seen as “extremely reliable and robust workhorses of the sky as freight carriers, as well as elegant passenger aircraft”.
Head of flight operations Richard Baker said: “The additional aircraft is now fully operational and available immediately for commercial transport flights.
“It comes to RVL following a major avionics upgrade and refurbishment and will offer a major enhancement to the services we are able to provide to existing and prospective clients.
“The rare eight-seat configuration gives it adaptability and makes it a cost-effective option for companies seeking to move larger crews.
“We can operate it on a single or multi-crew basis to meet client needs, with a maximum flight range of 1,580 nautical miles.”
RVL head of business development David Lacy said “The new flooring system adds significantly to RVL’S flexibility, not only increasing our overall freight capacity but also providing us with a cargo aircraft which is quicker, and with a greater range, as well as one better able to operate in poor weather.
“The conversion system provides us with the flexibility to carry timecritical, high-value, low-volume goods – very much an expanding market – and afterwards rapidly return the King Air to its standard eight-seat commuter configuration.”
RVL spokesman John Blauth said they were also benefiting from company’s wanting to move staff long distances but not wanting to use rail or passenger airlines during the pandemic. During lockdown its passenger planes have moved business travellers, medical teams and engineering crews.
Mr Blauth said: “We haven’t taken that big a hit during Covid because we move quite a lot for the health sector and NHS, and carry out survey work for organisations such as the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Environment Agency. “We’ve been okay - certainly in comparison to many aviation providers.
“I would say we are in a positive place. East Midlands Airport has an amazing set up - it’s really efficient, and the runway operates 24/7.”