Inflite has grown quickly and has a fleet of more than 15 aircraft, ranging from skydiving fixed-wing planes to Eurocopters and corporate planes, including a 550 Falcon jet with operations concentrated in the South Island.
Heletranz Helicopters has an eight-strong fleet of single and twin-engined helicopters, including the luxury Agusta 109s Grand and Bell 427. The fleet will soon expand to 13 choppers.
It pioneered heli-fishing and heli-dining in the Auckland region with its most popular trips to Waiheke.
A director of Heletranz, Sofia Ambler, said it would give the company she owns with husband John the opportunity to increase its presence throughout the country, and will set up a base in Taupo.
"We're very excited having bought into Inflite, we have worked closely together developing a great partnership over the last couple of years which has resulted in our successful merger. Our biggest focus has always been on the experience and Heletranz will continue to thrive and plan to expand the brand throughout the country."
She said the bigger company would be able to better meet high demand expected for the America's Cup and Apec next year. Heletranz clients would now get seamless access to choppers in the South Island.
The Amblers - who have owned Heletranz for seven years - will join the merged company's senior leadership team. Both companies' brands will be retained.
Inflite's sky diving business has grown in the South Island. Photo / Supplied
Inflite will move headquarters to a new purpose-built facility scheduled for opening in April at the current Heletranz base on Auckland's North Shore.
Adam Joyce, chief executive of Inflite, said joining forces enabled the companies to offer a greater range of options for customers throughout New Zealand, and put it in a strong position for future expansion.
"The opportunities ahead for our sector are enormous, with demand for premium travel and adventure tourism growing fast. We have enjoyed a great working relationship based on shared values and priorities for a long time, so this came as a natural extension of that. Our locations, aircraft fleets and people are very complementary."
Inflite offers a range of private air travel, skydiving, glacier experiences, scenic tours and charter flights around the country.
While it has bases in Auckland and Taupo, it is particularly strong in the South Island, with operations in Aoraki/Mount Cook, Fox Glacier, Franz Josef, Motueka and Twizel.
Heletranz is added to Inflite brands including Mount Cook Ski Planes & Helicopters, Nelson Tasman Air, Skydive Abel Tasman, Skydive Mt Cook and Skydive Franz Josef and Fox Glacier.
It bought Skydive Fox Glacier last year and at that time said it was moving towards being a "customer experience-based" business rather than purely an aviation business.
