Founded in 1965, Papillon Airways Inc and Grand Canyon Airlines/Scenic Airlines since 1929 are one the largest flightseeing companies in the world, with nearly 70 helicopters and airplanes. The Halvorson family has acquired Kenai Helicopters (now known as Grand Canyon Helicopters), Grand Canyon Airlines, Grand Canyon Coaches and Scenic Airlines.
29-Jan-20 - Papillon Airways announced deployment of the aviation document digitization software Web Manuals from Sweden to support the revamp of its company manuals to improve safety across its helicopter fleet #WebManuals
06-Mar-19 - Kopter leasing a 84,700 sq.ft. facility located at Lafayette Regional Airport (KLFT) in Louisiana, USA. Creation of 120 jobs by 2025 for production of around 100 SH09 helicopters per year #manufacturing
19-Apr-18 - Safran Helicopter Engines has signed Support-By-Hour (SBH®) contracts with Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters and Rainier Heli International covering H125/H130 fleet engines
26-Feb-18 - Papillon Grand Canyon signed MoU for 40 retrofittable Crash-Resistant Fuel Tanks (CRFTs) for AS350B3 and EC130B4 from StandardAero (ex Vector Aerospace)
02-Jan-18 - Grand Canyon’ Papillon and Scenic Airlines to implement general aviation maintenance and operations software Ramco Aviation Suite version 5.8
30-Mar-15 - Papillon Group will unveil its "Golden Helicopter" on April 16 at 2PM during the celebration of 50 years of work from three generations of one family.
26-Feb-15 - Papillon ordered a specially painted EC130T2 "Golden Helicopter" to celebrate the company s 50th golden anniversary. Shown at HeliExpo but officially unveiled April 16 in Las Vegas
11-Feb-15 - This year marks the 50th anniversary for The Papillon Group (pronounced pah-pe-YOHN), the world’s largest and longest running helicopter tour company.
05-Jan-15 - Mr. Elling Halvorson, founder of Papillon Helicopters, will receive the “Vertical Flight Hall of Fame Award,” presented by Bell Helicopter at the 12th Annual “Living Legends Of Aviation” Awards
25-Feb-14 - Anaheim, California – Business at Papillon Airways Inc. and sister company Rainer-Heli International continues to grow along with their ever-expanding Airbus Helicopters fleets.
12-Feb-12 - Dallas, Texas – At today’s launch of Eurocopter’s new EC130 T2 helicopter, American Eurocopter announced that Papillon Helicopters, one of the launch customers for the new line, has placed an order for 20 EC130 T2s. The order is for an initial six EC130 T2 helicopters, with an additional 14 options. Papillon’s fleet includes 19 EC130s and 10 AS350 B2s, and this order is part of an ongoing renewal of its Grand Canyon flightseeing fleet.
29-Jun-11 - Grand Prairie, Texas – American Eurocopter announced today that Papillon Helicopters has placed an order for five AS350 B3e helicopters with options for three more. The aircraft will be used to expand the company’s fleet and will begin a replacement program for some of the company’s older helicopters.