What procurement teams should include in a helicopter charter request

Procurement is asked to tender something unlike its usual categories: a whole-aircraft service where capability, approvals and positioning matter as much as rate, and where three operators asked loosely will answer three different questions.

The result is quotes that cannot be compared, scope gaps discovered after award, and a mission that stops because a landing point or a certificate was never part of the scope.

• The requirement repeats — inspection programmes, crew change, campaign or standby work.
• Several operators must be compared on equal terms.
• Company HSE, insurance or audit standards must be demonstrated before award.
• The mission is complex: multiple sites, external loads, offshore access or cross-border operations.
• For a single urgent flight, a structured brief is still needed, but a full tender usually costs more time than it saves.

• Scope of work in operational terms: what has to be achieved, not which aircraft you assume.
• Exact departure, destination and intermediate points, with coordinates where relevant.
• Dates, operating window, and whether the schedule is fixed or flexible.
• People per sortie with realistic dressed weights, plus baggage and tooling.
• Cargo weight and dimensions, dangerous-goods content, and external-load details where applicable.
• Landing status and controlling party for every point, including hoist requirements.
• Rotations, standby, on-site aircraft requirement and expected operating period.
• Certification, insurance, HSE-audit and reporting requirements, and any contractual flow-downs.
• Price basis requested: what is included, what is excluded, and how waiting, positioning and cancellation are treated.

• Availability and aircraft assignment are confirmed by the operator per mission, not held open indefinitely.
• Weather limits and the go/no-go decision remain with the operator's crew on the day.
• Landing permissions are granted by the controlling party and the relevant authority, not by a broker or a contract clause.
• Capability figures for payload and external load depend on altitude, temperature and configuration on the day.
• A broker can structure, source and coordinate; it cannot guarantee a price, an aircraft or a permission.

• Operational scope of work.
• Exact points with coordinates and landing status.
• Dates, window and schedule flexibility.
• People, weights, baggage and tooling.
• Cargo, dangerous goods and external-load details.
• Rotations, standby and operating period.
• Certification, insurance and HSE requirements.
• Requested price basis with inclusions and exclusions.
• Named contacts for operations and for commercial matters.

• B2B mission request checklist
• B2B mission planning guide
• Industrial buyer's guide