About - Helicopter Services over the Fiji Islands

Our Story

About Us

Following the success and popularity of the adventure activities offered by Skydive Fiji, Tim and Susan Joyce saw a gap in the market for helicopter scenic tours and established Heli-Tours Fiji.

Heli-Tours Fiji offers a range of unique tours and scenic flights with our R44 Helicopters catering mostly to the growing couples and honeymoon market.

Popular throughout the world for scenic tours, R44 Helicopters are not only sporty, economical and comfortable, but all passengers have a 100% guarantee of a window seat.

With the rapid growth of the luxury and honeymoon market in Fiji we added a larger helicopter to the fleet, a twin engine Eurocopter AS355 with 5 passenger seats.

This helicopter caters to high-end, luxury guests and bigger groups, offering both resort transfers and private charters. The AS355 can also be configured to carry a stretcher and medical team for Medevacs and SAR operations and can be fitted with a hook for lifting and construction, and specialized camera mounts for aerial filming.

Heli-Tours Fiji services the whole of the Fiji Islands, including the main centres and island resorts, the remote interior and all maritime zones including Lau, Vanua Levu, Kadavu and Rotuma.

4 Aircraft Fleet

Experienced Pilots

20 yrs of experience

Over 16,000 flying hrs

The Family

Joyce Aviation (Fiji) Group

The Journey to Fiji

In 1999 Tim and Susan Joyce with their two young daughters, Lucy and Elly boarded their sailing catamaran, Moale and left Sydney on a five year journey of exploration and adventure. In mid 2003 the family arrived in Fiji and fell in love with the beautiful islands and people.

With a career that began in Sydney 43 years ago, Tim now has over 17,000 flying hours (both helicopters and fixed wing). His vast and varied experience includes tourism, general charters, fire fighting, aerial construction, mining support, search and rescue (SAR) operations, medivacs, long range aircraft deliveries, border control and surveillance, peace keeping missions, pilot training, skydiving instruction competition and stunt work, and specialist film projects in Australia, Papua New Guinea, India, East Timor and Burma. He has also run a number of charter companies and flying schools in Australia. Tim worked for the ABC, various other television networks and private companies and has been involved in the filming of many outdoor sporting events such as at the Sydney Olympics and the Sydney to Hobart Yacht races.

Background (Why Fiji)

Tim saw a lot of parallels between Fiji and the Whitsunday Islands in QLD where he had worked for a large aviation company operating helicopters, fixed wing and floatplanes. Both regions are heavily dependent on tourism and have a similar climate and flying conditions that require predominately over water operations. In 2003 Tim noticed there was a limited number of adventure activities available for tourists in Fiji and no dedicated aerial tours of the beautiful islands and reefs. The establishment of their first Adventure Tourism Company, Tandem Skydive Fiji happened in June 2004, followed by Heli-Tours in 2011, then Sunflower Aviation and Pacific Flying School in 2014.

Now the Joyce Aviation Group (Fiji) PTE Limited includes:

Heli-Tours Fiji
Sunflower Aviation Ltd
Skydive Fiji
Pacific Flying School

With a combined fleet of 16 aircraft, the Joyce Aviation (Fiji) Group is well positioned to offer the ultimate in aviation support and tourism activities with private charters, dedicated tours, resort transfers, aircraft engineering and hangar storage, aviation consulting and filming, skydiving, private jet handling and other services.

Tim Joyce

Managing Director / Chief Pilot

Tim Joyce is one of the most qualified pilots in Australia and Fiji with Air Transport Licenses for both helicopters and aeroplanes and is also a Chief Flying Instructor for helicopters with over 14,000 hours flying experience. Tim’s flying career has taken him to the jungles of Papua New Guinea, The Solomon Islands, Burma and India where he was involved in specialist helicopter long-lining operations in support of oil exploration and the construction of power lines.

He has had extensive experience in helicopter fire fighting, aerial filming and television work and has specialised in coordinating aviation stunts for the film industry. These have included riding the motorbike out of the back of an aeroplane, flying under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, bungy jumping from a helicopter and many others.

Tim’s flying career has placed him in a number of precarious situations. Probably none of them as dramatic as the time he and his helicopter was hijacked and forced to ‘rescue’ a notorious criminal from Sydney’s Silverwater jail in a hail of gunfire from the prison guards.

On 8 June 2004 he flew our especially modified skydiving aircraft from Australia to Fiji via New Caledonia and our tandem skydiving operations commenced soon after. See www.skydivefiji.com.fj

Ever since he was a small child Tim has been fascinated by flying. Throughout his career he has been involved in many facets of aviation from multi-crew instrument helicopter and aeroplane flying, aerobatics, gliding, ultra-lights, hang-gliding, ballooning and skydiving in countries all over the world.

Discover Fiji

Unforgettable Adventures

Fiji is blessed with 333 tropical islands scattered over 194,000 square kilometers. You are spoilt for choice and one of the best way to discover our islands is to hop on one of our helicopters and let us show you our backyard.

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AS355 Twin Engine Squirrel
Robinson R44

Aircrafts

Twin Engine Squirrel

The Twin Squirrel cruises at 120knots and has a seating capacity of 5 passengers. With the added safety of twin turbine engines, this helicopter is often preferred by VIP guests and is suitable for larger family groups, aerial filming & photography (as it can be fitted with a sophisticated camera mount for filming), search and rescue operations and medivacs requiring a stretcher.

Cruise Speed

120 knots

Endurance & Range

3.3 hours endurance, 310 nautical mile range

Passengers

Normal configuration – 5 passengers

Engine

Twin Engine

Extra’s

Night VFR Equipped (Night medivacs only if it’s a mercy flight & weather is good), Twin Engine, Oxygen Capable.

Aircrafts

Robinson R-44

The Robinson R-44 has 3 passenger seats, cruises at 100knots and is equipped with pop-out flotation for safe overwater operations. The helicopter is subject to aircraft weight and loading limitations - typically we transport 2 passengers plus standard airline allowance luggage or 3 passengers with carry-on type luggage. Luggage in soft bags is preferable as it is easier to fit into the luggage compartments. A cargo pod is also available for additional luggage when required and carry two standard airline type suitcases. Smaller bags and carry on luggage can be stored under the rear seats. At times it may be necessary to transport excess luggage by road or boat.

The Robinson R-44 is the most popular helicopter in the world for Scenic Flights offering views unsurpassed viewing because everyone is guaranteed a full window seat. The R-44 is also a more economical option for seated patients on Medical Evacuation (Medivac).