Philip Bayne is a man with a passion. A passion for his company and its helicopters. And he wants everyone to enjoy aerial tours of the islands – and more - on one of his helicopters.

The dapper Bayne is MD and CEO of Eagle Associates (Malta), a subsidiary of a UK-registered company of the same name. The local company was established in January, although the project to set up here began some time ago, when the government was looking for someone to operate a scheduled air link between Malta and Gozo. “We did not bid for that”, explains Bayne. Instead, he decided that helicopter tours of the islands would be a better option.

Since February, and operating as Heli Tours, the company offers two sightseeing packages: the platinum tour, price tagged at €125 per person, is a 26 nautical mile, 20-minute flight over Malta whilst the premier tour is a 30-minute, 50 nautical mile flyover of Malta and Gozo - taking in the principal prehistoric sights, the resorts, the Citadel and Valletta. Tours come with a pre-recorded commentary. A 45-minute island tour is still in the development stage.

These are being pitched at cruise liners, with their thousands of passengers docking in Valletta every week, tourists and, of course, the local market.

The cruise and tourist markets are deemed the most profitable in the long-term, although a contract with Saga Holidays, who cater to senior travellers, seems to have fallen through. The deal involved Eagle Associates flying guests from the airport to the Coastline Hotel in Salina. However, siting and building a helipad plus obtaining all the necessary permits turned out to be too complicated.

Another possibility, still to be explored, is a helipad somewhere close to the Valletta Waterfront, where liners berth.

For the domestic market, meanwhile, Heli Tours offers promotional fares for special occasions such as St Valentine’s Day, wedding flights and any other event that requires hassle-free transport or an unusual way of getting there. “Our helicopter tours range from sightseeing to tailor made, luxury packages that could include dinner or golf or whatever your pleasure”.

Heli Tours is also about to introduce short pleasure flights at weekends at an affordable €75 per person. All tours can be booked online from the company’s website at www.heli-link-malta.com.

Meantime, Eagle Associates is now keen in obtaining landing rights in Gozo; again, Bayne does not intend operating a scheduled frequency there, but ad hoc services. Says he: “We do not want to be in competition with [ferry operator] Gozo Channel or [the seaplane company] Harbour Air, we just want to complement them”.

He would also like to land a few government contracts, and points out that the company’s helicopters – most of which are based abroad, but can be deployed to Malta quickly - may be chartered by the offshore oil industry, used for emergency evacuations, aerial photography, pilot training and many other usages. Moreover, Eagle Associates also has access to executive jets for either charter or sale.

Future plans, Bayne says, include services to Sicily and North Africa. Helicopter trips to Palermo are already featured as ‘coming soon’ on the company’s site.

However, international flights will have to be operated by a larger machine than the ones currently in Malta - a four-seater Robinson R44 (pictured above) and a Bell 206L-3 accommodating seven.

Eagle Associates has an office at Malta International Airport plus a booking booth in the departures hall. Russian-born Svetlana Roukhliada is the locally based executive director – Bayne commutes between Malta, the UK and the six other bases dotted around the world that sport the Eagle Associates logo.

Also based here are “three or four pilots”, who normally spend a while in Malta before rotating back to the UK.

Eagle Associates (Malta) has only been operating since February, barely four months, and is already on its way to becoming a household name as the ‘coolest’ way to see the islands. With summer around the corner, expect to see their helicopters constantly crisscrossing the Maltese islands at around 500 metres.