Greed at the expense of quality

Sverrir Tryggvason, an employee of the tour company Special Tours, today described in an interview with a news agency how his car was damaged when a helicopter operated by helicopter tour company Glacierheli landed in a gravel parking lot in Suðurnes.

There is no indication that Glacierheli is willing to take responsibility for the loss.

“It’s unbelievable that they could get away with it. Needless to say, they just said ‘oops’,” he said.

Glacierheli CEO and owner Usman Mehmood said the company had Slovenian insurance. The helicopter came from Austria but was registered in Slovenia.

“So it will take time and we will look at it,” Usman said.

Greed trumps quality

Reynir Freyr Pétursson, a helicopter pilot and flight operations manager for Icelandic helicopter service HeliAir, wrote on the Buckland Tourism Facebook site, which often discusses the country’s tourism industry.

“This is what happens when people start a business with the sole goal of making money without regard for the quality of the product,” Rainier said.

He said it was important for people to understand that Glacierheli was neither an airline nor a helicopter company, but simply a ticket seller that contracted with foreign flight operators to provide flight services. In this case, it was Senn Air, but Glacierheli had been using airlines from Norway, Germany and Austria in the past two years.

The company sends helicopters to the port of Seyðisfjörður with Norræna. The pilots come for three to four weeks at a time, mainly visiting popular destinations around Reykjavík and the volcanic area around Grindavik.

“They have received little training on how helicopters fly here, and that’s why collisions like this happen,” said Reynir Freyr, referring to the consequences of helicopters landing in gravel parking lots.

At a completely different speed

Helicopter pilots are paid extremely low wages, hardly the minimum wage in the general labor market. These weeks of free food and accommodation make this example seem appropriate for helicopter pilots. Try to focus on foreign airlines.

“These companies entered the market under the protection of European laws that allow airlines to operate across Europe and used this opportunity to undercut the market,” said Reinier, who competes directly with these companies.

Heli Air is one of two helicopter airlines in Iceland, the other being Norðurflug. Foreign companies have captured a large part of the market for, among other things, sightseeing flights and ferrying skiers to these and other peaks.

“Icelandic companies are not competitive because it is certainly much cheaper to operate an airline in Slovakia or Austria than during the peak season.”

Tour companies like Glacierheli, which operates in the country, have realized this. They underbid for seated tours, then outbid Icelandic competitors and pay the companies that refer customers. Tour giant Arctic Adventures is Glacierheli’s biggest bull.

Reputation in the Sink

In addition, the two remaining Icelandic helicopter airlines must operate under special regulations regarding pilot working hours to improve safety: a maximum of ten hours for Icelandic pilots and fourteen hours for foreign pilots.

“So the competition is not even on a level playing field. The only thing we have is knowledge of the country and the conditions, but what does that matter when people want to make the most money? But as with other sectors of the tourism industry, the regulators seem powerless or even incapable of doing anything,” said Reinier.

Unfortunately, the reputation of Icelandic helicopter pilots is in decline. Those who come here for a few weeks can act as they feel on the day, but Icelandic helicopter pilots suffer the consequences.

Advertise the bear and rabbit in Þórsmörk

The tour company Glacierheli made headlines in January last year when it was revealed that it was selling helicopter tours in Þórsmörk and claimed that animals such as rabbits, reindeer and bears could be found there, but this was not the case.

In the company’s promotional materials, it is claimed that tourists can see the geyser spray water up to seventy meters high. Geyser geyser has been almost inactive for decades, but the neighboring Strokkur geyser can reach a height of thirty meters.

Usman Mehmood, CEO, Glacierheli Tell the source The publicity material is written by someone who lives in London and is unfamiliar with Iceland. It is not read before publication.