US Helicopter Shuts Down

[moose135]

From their website (http://www.flyush.com/)


Notice of Temporary Service Interruption
We are temporarily halting all service as we regroup to add aircraft to our fleet and introduce new routes. This 'standown' of service applies to our scheduled flights as well as our charter service. We plan to return to the skies of New York - a bigger and better airline - by late November. For information on refunds for tickets you hold for future travel, please contact your credit card company for a credit or refund. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and we look forward to serving you again very soon with our 8 Minute Airport Shuttle.
Temporary? Good luck with that!

[diegodangers]

so let me see if I get this right. They are going to halt services just to open new routes and get more a/c? That doesn't make any sense at all. I hope the best for the pilots, but this doesn't make any sense.

[emshighway]

I had to go to JRB and 6N5 this morning and secure our equipment. USH advised us their "stand down" will be for 90 days as they access their finances. USH is down to one aircraft and it has been down mechanical for a week. The heliport operators are not too optimistic USH will be returning as they owe them money.

From the reports I get, the loads have never been there. They averaged maybe 250 passengers a month.

I wish the people of USH well. I have dealt with a few and they are good people

[Gerard]

[quote="emshighway"]I had to go to JRB and 6N5 this morning and secure our equipment. USH advised us their "stand down" will be for 90 days as they access their finances. USH is down to one aircraft and it has been down mechanical for a week. The heliport operators are not too optimistic USH will be returning as they owe them money.

I actually heard they were having finance issues months ago. Too bad. Another NYC helo airport shuttle bites
the dust. :(

[Tom_Turner]

I noticed them earlier this week at JFK and was surprised they lasted this long. Several years is more than I think many people thought it would work.

1057396

1039594

1039593

Tom

[Gerard]

1057396

I like this shot. DHL 7 also gone from service.

[coachrowsey]

I also hate to hear this.

[diegodangers]

USH is down to one aircraft and it has been down mechanical for a week.

Is this the one sitting on the Signature ramp at EWR? I was just looking over it today. So sad.

[emshighway]

USH is down to one aircraft and it has been down mechanical for a week.

Is this the one sitting on the Signature ramp at EWR? I was just looking over it today. So sad.

Probably unless that is the one they sold recently.

[emshighway]

I had to go to JRB and 6N5 this morning and secure our equipment. USH advised us their "stand down" will be for 90 days as they access their finances. USH is down to one aircraft and it has been down mechanical for a week. The heliport operators are not too optimistic USH will be returning as they owe them money.

I actually heard they were having finance issues months ago. Too bad. Another NYC helo airport shuttle bites
the dust. :(

Yea, the fact that FirstFlight took over operations at JRB and shut USH down for about three months until they got all the proper certifications didn't help. 6N5 was going to bar them about a month ago because they owed $100,000. USH came up the 11th hour with the cash.

Sad news.

[Tom_Turner]

How is Firstflight doing at JRB, anyone know?

The tourist choppers are in and out more frequently than ever, but the corporate (or other) traffic seems sparse. Just the economy or something in connection with the operations?

Thanks,
Tom

[emshighway]

How is Firstflight doing at JRB, anyone know?

The tourist choppers are in and out more frequently than ever, but the corporate (or other) traffic seems sparse. Just the economy or something in connection with the operations?

Thanks,
Tom

They have been doing good. They have been doing some upgrades to the terminal (as small as it is) and yes the tour traffic is going up. Liberty and Pegasus are moving out of JRA and toward JRB. Liberty is already started there. FirstFlight isn't going to miss USH because they can rent the space to the tour operators and make more money. 6N5 isn't looking to take on any tour operators, they want to stay a charter heliport.

[santobonao]

Good luck with this airline if they ever comes back to service.

[Tom_Turner]

Good luck with this airline if they ever comes back to service.

Yes, best of luck to them. But this model didn't seem to work. I wonder if they or another company would not be better off with a small fleet of S-92s, and lower fares, similar to what New York Airways did. - Not that there's a bunch of cheap S-92s around...

Tom

[Derf]

http://www.longislandwallpapers.com/photos/476232499_qoahz-L.jpg

http://www.longislandwallpapers.com/photos/473287787_mANcw-L.jpg

http://www.longislandwallpapers.com/photos/432791595_Jp3FW-L.jpg

Sad to see such a nice looking scheme go... I hope they regroup :(

[santobonao]

I hope they comes back to services, without this kind of work, New york wouldn't look the same.

[AnBok]

Well that sucks. Sorry to see them go. There are some good folks working over there. Seems the helicopter airline idea just cannot be sustained in New York... Come to think of it, I think there are only two scheduled helicopter airlines that I know of in the world:

HeliJet in British Columbia
Copterline in Finland/Estonia

Any others?

[PhilDernerJr]

I don't know much about their loads and such, but I would honestly have thought that there would be enough business for them to keep their choppers flying full.....businessmen getting a high off of skipping the Long Island Expressway to get to their flight...not only to the airport, but airside as well. Considering that a car service can rise well above $50 for airport service, their ticket prices of $180 I think, weren't that bad.

But even if they were flying full, who knows what their overhead challenges were. Serious question, anyone know?

[coachrowsey]

Phil:
My way of thinking was with yours.

[Matt Molnar]

One problem is unless you work/live near Wall St, you'll still need a cab to get to/from the helicopter.

[Gerard]

One problem is unless you work/live near Wall St, you'll still need a cab to get to/from the helicopter.

They were also flying out of East 34 Street.