Specialist aviation services provider RVL Group has been well placed to weather the COVID-19 storm thanks to its fundamental strength as an efficient, quick-response service provider with in-built capability to react speedily to fast-changing situations. A 24/7 operation based at East Midlands Airport, RVL has been busy assisting clients both old and new to meet their logistical needs during this time of national crisis. Just as it did before the pandemic; and will do when it has ended.
RVL’s fleet of aircraft has seen service throughout the emergency, helping major-name clients deliver cargo loads around Europe and making full use of EMA’s round-the-clock runway operation. East Midlands, based practically in the centre of the UK, has proved a vital national hub during the emergency, with a 7.4 per cent increase in cargo flights.
The current fleet comprises 4x B200 King Airs; 6 x Reims Cessna F406s; 3 x Cessna C404s and one Cessna C402B.
Time-critical freight delivery is a core service for RVL, and its scheduled operations have continued at full flow. There have been many ‘ad hoc’ assignments also, including a five-day, two-pilot mission in one of the company’s Cessna F406 aircraft to collect and redistribute vital medical supplies around Europe. The company is on standby 24/7 for ‘lifeline’ services, which can include the transport of donor organs.
RVL Managing Director Dave Connor says the company has the flexibility to prevail and to make a difference in the current business climate: “While RVL Group can never be immune to the blows that coronavirus has dealt to most businesses, it is resilient thanks to the core strengths of the operation, which include an infrastructure which is not solely reliant on third parties.
“We have our own in-house maintenance systems, training programmes, pilots, engineers and support staff. We have quickly and fully adapted to the new patterns of working required by Government and PHE guidelines, with procedures revised so that we meet all of our usual obligatory requirements.”
RVL’s passenger charter aircraft have seen less business, although there have been some repatriation flights for business customers between Europe, mainland UK and the Channel Islands. Its other main operations have been as busy as ever.
These include aerial survey flights for a number of clients, using aircraft specially modified to accommodate the latest in aerial photographic hardware systems. A welcome side-effect of the crisis is that areas of the UK with usually very busy airspace, including London, Manchester and Birmingham, have benefited from clearer skies and therefore permitted greater access to RVL’s survey planes.
April’s excellent flying weather has proved of benefit also, leading to the company clocking up an unusually high number of flying hours.
One of RVL’s survey operations made a good ‘local mystery’ story for Welsh media when its aircraft’s unusual flight pattern was spotted by aviation enthusiasts on an online flight tracker.
“There are far fewer aircraft flying currently,” says Connor, “so our survey flight over Wales was easier for them to spot. The story published by Wales Online talked of ‘strange, zig-zagging flight lines’ between Swansea and Aberystwyth… The truth is a little less strange than they were suggesting, but we were very pleased to see our work being recognised.”
Behind the scenes at RVL, in the company’s hangars beside EMA’s main runway, there is a carefully orchestrated plan in operation which ensures that a minimum of operational staff members are on site at any time, all of them working within Health England’s social distancing guidelines. Other staff are working remotely, on call as required.
RVL has also stepped up its communications programmes to key clients and prospective customers to ensure that the company’s core message: that it is ready and able to support the urgent and critical supply chain, is clearly heard.
Said Connor: “We are busy though never too busy to talk with clients, potential clients and others in the aviation community. We have extended and evolved how we reach people; by phone and email as before, and now via online conferences and webinars, as well as LinkedIn. We also communicate proactively with our network and beyond with our Bulletins and Newsletters. Dynamic communication is a core activity for all RVL staff.”
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Contact:
John Blauth
john@blauth.com
07831 446 145
