Helicopters
Chartering a helicopter in Mallorca is an amazing experience, passengers will be swept away by the mountainous scenery rugged coastline or many other pretty scenes below.
Whether for pleasure, a special event or just commuting to your private villa, you won’t quickly forget this foray of flight.
Son Bonet Helicopters
The charter helicopter companies are based in the Son Bonet airport, this is a few minutes away from Palma de Mallorca international airport.
Son Bonet is located north east of Palma city outskirts. One advantage to this smaller airport is the ease of access with good roads and a train stop by the airport.
Typical helicopter models based in Palma are for three or five passenger seats along with the pilot.
Commuting, how to arrange Pick up or drop off
All commercial airlines and virtually all private jets will fly into the Palma de Mallorca international airport. In spite of this it’s quite easy to arrange a pick up from PMI airport.
Pre-arranged helicopter charters will be there to meet you when you arrive at PMI. They will then take you up into the skies above Mallorca and fly you directly to your private villa or hotel. The return to PMI is just as easy to arrange.
If you arrive into PMI from a commercial airliner then you will need to go through the airport luggage collection and possibly passport control or customs checks as usual.
Once through head for the private jet terminal (TAG), you will need a shuttle as it’s too far to walk especially with luggage. Many helicopter charter services will arrange to meet you and take you to the private jet terminal.
If you fly in on a private jet then your helicopter pilot will be waiting ready to escort you straight away to your helicopter. Then he will fly you to your hotel, villa or other destination.
Returning to the airport, the charter will fly you from your hotel or villa to the private jet terminal and if you need to catch a commercial flight they will shuttle you to the main terminal of Palma airport.
Luggage
Luggage space is limited, you will need to check this with your charter. As a general rule the three seat helicopters are tight for space and can only take aircraft cabin sized baggage that will be able to fit under the seat.
Five seat helicopters have a little more space but not much. Where there is more luggage than this it will be arranged to be transported separately by road.
Theoretically if you are only one or two passengers you will have more luggage space in a three or five seat helicopter.
Typical Rates
From one of the Palma helicopter websites in Mallorca, they give an example quote of a typical airport transfer, see below. Passengers will still need to show passports or a Spanish ID card for Airport Security clearance.
- Pick up from PMI airport private jet terminal
- 3 seat helicopter with minimal baggage
- One Way
- Drop off destination, Cala D’Or which is on the other side of Mallorca, the east coast
€ 980
Total price including all incurred airport fees. Not per person, but for the helicopter transfer in total.
Payment
Card payment is possible, also with enough days clearing time bank transfers are acceptable. Also payment with, Mastercard, Visa or cash on the day is usually satisfactory.
To guarantee a booking a Credit Card (Visa or MasterCard) is obligatory to secure the booking even though no money is withdrawn at the time.
Availability
As the originating airstrip at Son Bonet has no lighting then flight times have to be within sunrise to sunset times.
During November until the end of April helicopters are obtainable every day for charter.
From May until the end of October, the very busy season, they are only obtainable from Monday to Thursday due to the restricted airport airspace being closed to helicopters.
Other Services
Pleasure trips
There are set routes around Mallorca or most charters will let their clients choose a route if they have something specific in mind.
Typical prices for a three seat helicopter including pilot are:
15 min: € 299.00
30 min: € 449.00
45 min: € 559.00
1 hour: € 699.00
2 hours 30 min: € 1,799.00
Special events
If you want to do something very special for a special occasion, such as a wedding. Then there’s no better way to leave a lasting impression than experience your wedding from the skies above Mallorca and see the spectacular scenery below.
Helicopters charters can arrange to drop you off or collect you from your hotel or just give you and some of your guests a short pleasure trip from the wedding hotel.
Pilot training
Helicopter companies offer a pilot training service whereby you will after only a few minutes be flying amid Mallorca’s backdrop of outstanding landscape, sea and sunshine.
Self-fly
You will need the relevant helicopter licenses to fly on your own, check the individual charter’s website for specific details.
The charter company will explain the conditions unique to Mallorca regarding weather and airspace. They will accompany you for a short initial inspection flight to ensure your competency, then you are free to fly when cleared.
Some charters also offer helicopter refresher courses for those who haven’t flown for a while.
What to bring
For Airport Security clearance, all passengers will need to bring a passport or Spanish ID card, DNI.