One of New Zealand’s largest privately owned aviation businesses, GCH Aviation, has added new experiences designed to surprise and delight small groups.

Speaking at MEETINGS 2023 in Wellington, Caroline Blanchfield, group marketing manager, GCH Aviation New Zealand and Pacific Islands, welcomed the opportunity “to have that face-to-face connection” with incentive and conference partners after a few years of Zoom calls.

New Zealand’s closed borders didn’t slow GCH Aviation’s experience development. The company switched from handling international guests doing mainly luxury lodge transfers to focusing on the domestic incentive and small group market. It has brought new helicopter incentive experiences to life across all its aviation bases.

GCH Aviation offers truffle hunting and helicopter gin tours

“Collaboration is the key to most innovation and our plan was to partner with fantastic food and wine products and then remove the tyranny of long travel times by adding in the helicopter flight to the ground experience to make a truly memorable small group day event,” Blanchfield explained.

“We looked for experiences that would surprise and delight small groups, such as the winter experience of a Truffle hunt with Kings Truffles in North Canterbury, followed by a truffle lunch at one of the award-winning Waipara wineries.

“We teamed up with several North Canterbury wineries and successfully brought the ‘Between the Vines’ helicopter winery tour to the market.

“Another new small group favourite for GCH Aviation in Christchurch is our collaboration with the Akaroa Craft Distillery Helicopter Gin tour.

“In Wellington, we offer degustation lunches at Wharekauhau or across the straight to the Marlborough Sounds and Bay of Many Coves.  In Greymouth, we partnered with Scenic Hotels Punakaki Resort Hotel to offer Heli biking lifts to the top of the new Paparoa Track with purpose-built mountain bike racks for the helicopter—a perfect pre or post-conference activity in one of the most beautiful parts of New Zealand.

“In March 2023, we launched our new Kaikoura Clarence River Heli Jet experience with ITO and PCO famil groups for the Sudima Kaikoura Hotel.  We see enormous potential for this new product for Kaikoura Helicopters.

“As a company we see enormous growth potential for small group incentives in the areas where we operate our helicopters, not only Christchurch, Wellington, West Coast and Nelson and beyond as we have spread around New Zealand with incentives groups who charter our Challenger 604 business jet to travel to some amazing New Zealand locations.  Using our aviation assets around the country and the Pacific, GCH Aviation provide experiences that help to keep delegates in the country/regions longer.”

Launched in 1983, GCH Aviation is headquartered at a purpose-built aviation base in Christchurch, New Zealand. The facility has Christchurch’s only Private Jet Centre with a 24-hour FBO service and offers a Challenger 604 business jet for national and international charter.

A family-owned business, GCH Aviation owns over 30 aircraft and employs over 120 staff across its helicopter and fixed-wing aviation services in New Zealand and the South Pacific.

GCH Aviation holds the New Zealand Helicopter Diamond Safety Award for 40 years of continuous operation without accident to self, passengers, or crew. Safety is a priority!

The company owns commercial helicopter bases: Garden City Helicopters Christchurch, Kaikoura Helicopters, Wellington Helicopters, Coastwide Helicopters Greymouth and GCH Aviation Nelson.

It owns Pacific Island Air in Fiji in the South Pacific, providing luxury air-conditioned helicopters, seaplanes, fixed wings, and a helicopter base in Vanuatu. GCH Aviation UAV provides aerial imagery and mapping using specialist drones.

GCH Aviation is widely respected as one of New Zealand’s premier aviation operators serving all aspects of luxury tourism transfers, air charters, air ambulance and helicopter rescue services. In 2021 GCH Aviation won the 100% Pure New Zealand Experience Award from Tourism New Zealand.

GCH Aviation is the only privately-owned New Zealand aviation company accepted as a Virtuoso supplier. It joins Virtuoso’s collection of the finest luxury hotels, resorts, cruise lines, airlines, tour operators and other suppliers worldwide.

Edited by: Peter Needham in Wellington, New Zealand

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