Greek helicopter operator hoper adds Airbus AS355 and H135 to fleet
Why It MattersGrowth in this niche hinges on pairing leased twin-engine aircraft with hospitality partnerships and online booking, letting operators scale capacity without owning fleet outright.
What happened
Athens-based helicopter operator hoper acquired two twin-engine Airbus helicopters in June, an AS355 Ecureuil 2 and an H135, bringing its fleet to seven helicopters. Both aircraft are leased.
Dimitris Kossyfas, chief commercial officer, said strong demand from luxury hospitality partners — including Scott Dunn, Aman, Mandarin Oriental and Original Senses — drove the decision. The AS355 seats five passengers and is suited to island transfers. The H135 seats six, features advanced anti-vibration technology and a club cabin configuration, and is positioned for families and multi-island itineraries. The new aircraft will also support private charter requests involving transfers to and from private yachts, VIP movements and bespoke itineraries across Greece.
Founded in 2024, hoper operates both its own fleet and a digital marketplace through which customers can search, compare and book scheduled helicopter seats and private charters from a network of vetted operators flying Robinson, Bell, Airbus and Leonardo aircraft. Nearly half of all bookings now take place online. Kossyfas previously served as ventures director at Antenna Group and head of sales at Google, and brings ten years of experience in travel-focused start-ups to the role.
Santorini-Mykonos route
The company's most popular route connects Santorini and Mykonos, a distance of approximately 64 nautical miles (118 km). A ferry crossing on the same route can take more than three hours; hoper states its helicopters complete the journey in under 40 minutes.
Industry impact & what to watch
Adding leased twin-engine aircraft rather than buying outright lets a young operator match capacity to seasonal demand from hospitality partners without carrying the full cost of ownership. That structure is common among regional helicopter operators serving resort and island markets, where utilization swings sharply between peak and off-peak months.
The marketplace model, where hoper both flies its own fleet and resells seats and charters from other operators' Robinson, Bell, Airbus and Leonardo aircraft, shows how smaller operators are trying to compete on route coverage rather than fleet size alone. With nearly half of bookings now placed online, the split between owned-fleet flying and marketplace brokering will shape how the company's margins and reliability commitments evolve as it scales across the island network.
