One of the highlights at this summer’s agricultural shows was the sight of a bright yellow helicopter lifting off into the sky, whisking people away for a bird’s eye view of the island. These short trips were a chance to enjoy something that most of us can only dream of. For Nigel Watson and his family, who own the yellow helicopter, they were a big departure from their usual business model.

Nigel, who already has two helicopter companies, Luviair and HeliRiviera, says: ‘My core business is basically integrating helicopters on to large private estates and super-yachts.

‘They’re used as modes of transport, just taking clients from their private jet to the yacht, or from the yacht to somewhere ashore, perhaps to play golf, perhaps to go to a restaurant, perhaps to go to a hotel.

‘It’s an effective means of travel, it’s safe, it’s secure, it’s quick and it’s synonymous with the rest of their lives – they’re used to private jets, they’re used to big boats so, as a consequence, the helicopter is just a logical piece of transport going in the middle.’

For those who don’t already own one, Nigel Watson Consultancy advises on whether a helicopter would be a useful purchase to enhance their lifestyle and, if so, how to go about buying the best one for their needs.

Even for the super rich, a helicopter is a major purchase.

Nigel says: ‘Buying helicopters is not the smartest thing in the world when you’re wanting to think about spending money: you’re buying a depreciating asset.

‘All the other aircraft we’ve operated before, they’re all owned by other people and we manage them. I’ve never owned a helicopter before. I’m 30 years into the business and this is my first one.’

As he goes on to explain, it’s not just the cost of purchase – which can run into the millions of Euros. ‘It’s all about utilisation of helicopters: if you don’t use them enough the cost is pretty staggering. As in many big assets, you can buy these things, you can finance them, you can take loans on them but the day to day or month to month operational cost, that’s cash, and if people don’t see that coming then it’s an unpleasant surprise.’

These include employing people with the right skills and training to fulfil all the legal and safety requirements.

Nigel’s company Luviair has the infrastructure and human resources in place to provide the services owners require to maximise their time, enjoyment and use of their helicopter.

‘It’s all underwritten by the people who own the aircraft. It’s a common model for helicopter management companies in the VIP sector,’ he says.

Now 65, Nigel began his career in the military, Royal Navy and Sultan of Oman’s Navy.

He recalls: ‘Then I went into the luxury yachting industry where I was the captain of two ships, one of which had a helicopter and the other had a seaplane on board.

‘That is where I learned how to manage helicopters and seaplanes at sea.

‘In that time, which was essentially the best part of 10 years, we went round the world with those things and learnt how to operate them.

‘When I was about 40 I left the sea and started my first aviation business which is HeliRiviera, based in the south of France, which today is run by my elder daughter Emma.’

The purchase of his own helicopter and setting up the Yellow Helicopter business came about following a life-changing event five years ago. He says: ‘I got bowel cancer: it was picked up by the NHS screening service. It was all dealt with here in the island: I had surgery very quickly; had chemotherapy very quickly, and something like five or six months afterwards I was essentially cancer free.

‘So that put a different perspective on life.

‘Post-cancer the original idea was to buy a helicopter, go flying with my younger daughter, and have fun.’

He goes on: ‘I’ve never done anything here on the Isle of Man which directly benefited the island in any way, in terms of helicopters, and I thought: “Well this is an opportunity to allow me to fly and also if we make it into a small transport company then it will allow us to provide a tours service”.’

As well as the short flights at the shows, Yellow Helicopters also takes passengers on trips around the island. Because it’s a single engine machine it’s restricted to flying commercially within the confines of the island and cannot take passengers to other parts of the British Isles.

Nigel says: ‘These pleasure flights have been great, very interesting. We’ve flown all kinds of people, not just the wealthy.

‘At the Royal Show we did nearly 50 flights and that was quite gratifying because a lot of people came away thinking: “I never thought I’d do this because I wouldn’t be able to afford it”, so I’m really pleased that we’ve hit that mark.’

It is, though, very much a seasonal business so the tours are now suspended until next spring and last weekend, the yellow helicopter left the island for the winter, along with his younger daughter, Olivia, who also works in the business and, like Nigel, is passionate about helicopters.

She says: ‘I was a polo groom for the Triskelion Polo Club. The season finished and I was unsure what I wanted to do, then Dad said he needed some help and I gladly took him up on it.’

She started as an operations assistant then she was promoted and is now an operations officer, booking in flights, talking to air traffic control and ‘getting everything squared away so the passengers can have a fun time.’

She says: ‘We are moving the helicopter down to Majorca where Dad and I will have a good time flying and I will be able to complete my qualifications.’

Luviair’s chief pilot, Johnny Greenall, owns a flying school in the Balearics so Olivia will be studying there and the yellow helicopter will be stored in his hangar.

Getting her pilot’s licence involves more than just racking up the required number of flying hours, as she explains: ‘I have to pass nine exams, a flight skills test and a radio exam – I won’t be on the beach all the time!’

She started learning to fly nearly a year ago and reckons she has about 35 hours flying time already. ‘With working full time it’s hard to accumulate the hours. This is a brilliant opportunity and I’m very lucky and very excited for it.

‘It’s hard to find something you’re really passionate about and I’ve tried lots of things but this is the one that’s really stuck.’

In terms of where Yellow Helicopters goes from here, Nigel sees its evolution in similar terms to his other businesses. Now that he has the infrastructure in place in the island he would like to offer management services to private owners based here.

This would be an individual, or a corporate, who would use a helicopter regularly but isn’t sure that they can justify the cost year round.

Nigel says: ‘We can help by putting their helicopter onto our public transport certificate (AOC). This allows Yellow Helicopters to sell charter hours to other people with the revenue shared between the owner and the operator.

‘The majority of the owner’s share goes towards the operating costs and thus amortises the cost of their own flying.

‘For Yellow Helicopters, a larger management fleet would give us revenues to meet the fixed costs of being a public transport operator and make us sustainable in the longer term.’