Founded in the early 1990s by Shiralee Colin, a commercial balloon pilot, Skybus Ballooning is one of Kents oldest hot air balloon
companies, flying balloons in Kent and Sussex with a 100% safety record. Tony Hill our Chief Pilot is vastly experienced and a lot of his flying hours have been in the Kent and East Sussex area.
It operates Balloons that carry no more than 6 Passengers (or up to seven in a family group), and therefore offers a more personalised service, catering for exclusive parties of 2 or more passengers
(where the Clients have 2 ground crew and a Pilot and a Balloon
Exclusively to themselves, and can very often choose where they want
to fly from), up to Family Groups and on up to Large Corporate
Groups where several balloons are flown together, catering for up to
30 to 40 or more clients at a time.
We
schedule flights twice a day, every day throughout the year. Hot air
ballooning is an outdoor activity which relies entirely upon light
winds and good weather conditions. Your safety and pleasure is our
primary concern and this means flying only in good weather conditions,
so be patient.
Our Office and main launch site is based at Headcorn Airfield just 10 minutes from junction 8 on the M20 ( The Leeds Castle turn off ).We also have several other sites, one based at East Sutton, just south of Leeds Castle, another in the Paddock Wood area and anotherto the south towards Tenterden and to the east of Kent towards Ashford.
Flight duration
is approximately 1 hour, during which you are free to take photographs
or just relax and enjoy the adventure. Once we have landed you are
welcome to help the crew pack up the balloon and equipment, before
we return to the launch site for a celebratory glass of Champagne.
Tony has over twenty eight years of flying various aircraft, including hangliders, micro-lights and light aircraft before moving on to Hot Air balloons. Ballooning has subsequently taken him to over 24 countries including Russia and flying in the Arctic Circle in Northern Latvia and with over 2500 hours under his belt.