Helicopters are one of the categories Chicago Private Jets arranges most often out of Chicagoland, typically 4 to 8 passengers, published ranges from 324 to 500 nautical miles. Which one suits your trip comes down to the passenger count, the baggage, the distance and the performance at both airports on the day.
Helicopters We Arrange
Typical Aircraft
The working types in this category are Agusta 109, Bell 407, Bell Jet Ranger, Bell Long Ranger, Eurocopter and Sikorsky S-76.
When This Category Fits a Chicago Trip
Helicopters cover the Chicago-area movements where the road journey is the slow part, or where there is no runway at all. They also work as a connecting leg either side of a fixed-wing charter.
Within the category the aircraft differ more than the label suggests. Cabin size, baggage volume and published range all vary across the 6 types listed above, and the right one for your trip depends on how many are traveling and what is traveling with them. Send us the details and we will narrow it down rather than leave you to compare specifications.
Chicago winters affect rotary operations more than most, and de-icing from November through March is part of the planning rather than an afterthought. Whether a particular aircraft can use a particular airport on your date is the operator’s performance calculation for that aircraft, that weight and that day, and your advisor will confirm it before anything is booked.
Talk to an Advisor
Tell us the route, the dates and who is traveling, and we will come back with the aircraft that fit and a realistic estimate. Call +1-888-987-5387 at any hour, or use our contact page. You can see the full range on our aircraft overview, and read how we vet operators on the safety page.
Vetting Behind Every Trip
Every operator, aircraft, and crew goes through our internal due diligence before we present any options. Our internal standards meet or exceed what the FAA requires:
- FAR Part 135 charter operators for traditional private aircraft, or FAR Part 121 for airliner-size and group trips (or the foreign equivalent on international legs)
- Operator subscription to Wyvern and ARGUS reviewed where the operator participates.
- Pilot experience and operator incident history reviewed before we recommend an aircraft.
- Fewer than 60 brokers worldwide hold Premium Wyvern Broker Member status, and Air Charter Advisors is one of them.
Chicago-Specific Patterns We Plan Around
Two things decide more trips here than anything else. De-icing season runs from roughly November through March and affects departure timing, ramp availability and cost across the Chicago-area fields. Customs is the other: Midway is an international airport of entry and DuPage clears on the field around the clock, while Chicago Executive and Waukegan run a weekday afternoon window with prior notice, and Chicago Executive has no weekend clearance at all. A weekend arrival into Waukegan has to be requested before the end of Friday afternoon. Gary has a general aviation CBP facility on the field.
Contact
For a quote on a Chicago charter, send us the details through our contact page, or speak to an advisor on +1-888-987-5387. How we check operators, crews and insurance is set out on our safety page, and the full aircraft gallery covers the remaining categories. The National Business Aviation Association sets the broader operating standards we work within.