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 a loosely written request gets answers to 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.
• Quotes 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 are confirmed per mission in the written quote, not held open indefinitely.
• Weather limits and the go/no-go decision are made by the flight crew on the day.
• Landing permissions are granted by the site owner and the relevant authority, not by a contract clause.
• Capability figures for payload and external load depend on altitude, temperature and configuration on the day.
• SkyMatch reviews, arranges and manages the flight; 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