Five years of Helvetia Aviation – a success story.
“Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for take-off” was the call on 1 October 2019 when Helvetia entered the international aviation and product liability insurance market. Helvetia Aviation can now long back on five successful years.
Text Sonja Engl Photos provided
The Helvetia Aviation team: Dan Salisbury, Gregor Banzer, Marc Weber, Stefan Koller, Remo Pigozzo, Greg Dawson, Vanessa Pfyl, Jo Dring (from back left to front right). Ben Snape from the London team is missing from the photo.
Expectations were high when Helvetia took the decision to enter the aviation business five years ago. “Thanks to our longstanding experience and strong international network, we were quickly able to establish a major customer portfolio in the aviation sector, i.e. airlines and aerospace”, says Marc Weber, Head of Aviation Insurance at Helvetia. “Within a short space of time, it was also possible to recruit experienced underwriters for the team in Zurich, and an office was opened in London at the end of 2020, with the team focusing on the international general aviation business”.
Every beginning is hard
The first few years proved challenging: the pandemic, in particular, which almost paralysed global air traffic, and the Ukraine conflict, which broke out in 2022, presented the aviation industry and the insurance market with unknown and previously unforeseen challenges. “Thanks to our solid preparation and strong positioning on the market, we were able to handle these difficult events both professionally and successfully”, adds Marc. Since the start of underwriting, the Aviation department has already written approximately USD 275 million in gross premiums and has contributed to the profitability of Specialty Lines each year.
“It is a pleasure to be part of #TeamHelvetia and to be working on something bigger.”
Innovations also outside the core business
In addition to day-to-day business, the department has also been a pioneer in the area of efficiency-enhancing projects, including the introduction of semi-automated booking processes (Xchanging) and the digital underwriting tool “Whitespace”.
These innovations were only possible thanks to close collaboration with internal stakeholders and the support of Helvetia’s management. “It is a pleasure to be part of #TeamHelvetia and to be working on something bigger”, says Jo from the team in London.
Today, the Aviation team comprises nine underwriters who are split between the two sites in Stettbach/Zurich and London. They receive support from colleagues in the Operations and Finance teams.
And tomorrow?
The Helvetia Aviation department has demonstrated a great deal of commitment and foresight in establishing itself over the past five years and will continue to press ahead at full speed in the future! Fully in keeping with its endeavour to be a Global Specialist providing customised solutions as part of the new strategy.
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