The company is taking over a contract from Babcock Mission Critical Services Onshore and invested around £20 million to acquire new Airbus Helicopters H145s for the contract.

The company is currently better known for its corporate jet business, including charter, management and maintenance.

Mark Gascoigne, Managing Director Europe Air, said that the move into helicopter services was a logical step for the company.

Gama wants to ‘simplify the complexities of aviation’, and with extensive experience of fixed-wing operations already under its belt, the company felt that ‘to some extent a helicopter is just another thing that flies’.

The company received multiple requests by UK air ambulance trusts for Gama to bid for alternative contracts.

In the future, Gama wants to expand its rotary-wing business to oil and gas transport and offshore windfarm support.

Gascoigne said: “If we didn’t do helicopter operations, we would be missing out a major part of the market; it became a question of when we would do it.”