Compare tours from
Grand Canyon West

Side by side comparison of helicopter tours that depart from Grand Canyon West

Tours that depart from Grand Canyon West

PAPILLON

MAVERICK

Papillon and Maverick offer tours that depart from Grand Canyon West each with some distinct differences that you may overlook when comparing. Both companies fly the same flight path into the Grand Canyon and each offer landing options. We compare those here.

Landing Tour

Compare	Papillon	Maverick	Papillon
Tour Name	GCW Helicopter Landing	Grand Canyon Discovery	GCW Helicopter with Boat Ride
Price (before fees below)	$259	$259	$319
Price per minute (flight & Grand Canyon time not including park entry fee)	$7.40/minute	$7.40/minute	$7.68/minute


Total Duration	35 minutes	35 minutes	35 minutes
Flight Duration	15 minutes	15 minutes	15 minutes
Landing time	20 minutes	20 minutes
Boat ride	none	none	20 minutes


Landing Location	Inside Grand Canyon	Inside Grand Canyon	Inside Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon West $49 Entry Fee	Not included	Not included	Included
Skywalk option	Not included	Not included	Not included


Helicopter	EC-130 or A-Star	EC-130	EC-130 or A-Star
Flight path	same	same	same
Airport	Grand Canyon West	Grand Canyon West	Grand Canyon West


Hotel Transfers	No	No	No
Max passengers per heli	7	7	7
Meals	None	None	None




Additional Fuel Surcharge	None	None	None
Front seat request (if confirmed)	No fee No option	No fee No option	No fee No option
Prime time flights	No price difference	No price difference	No price difference


Flight times winter	6	6	6
Flight times summer	13	8	18
Earliest flight winter	9:30AM	9:30AM	9:00AM





Latest flight winter	1:00PM	1:00PM	1:00PM
Earliest flight summer	9:00AM	9:00AM	9:00AM
Latest flight summer	2:00PM	2:00PM	2:15PM

Takeaway

When comparing Papillon and Maverick for the helicopter tours that departs from Grand Canyon West and descend into the canyon for a landing, you may assume they are the same as they both are similar price and similar duration. There is a major difference between the landing options offered by Papillon and Maverick. Papillon only lands in the area where the boat tours depart meaning you may be sharing a helicopter with people taking the boat ride and your area to explore is where the boat launch is. Maverick does not have a boat option so their landing area is exclusively for exploring on the ground without seeing boats or the boat area. The biggest difference between Papillon and Maverick for tours departing from the West Rim is that Papillon services the tour with boat ride while Maverick specializes in the landing tour with time for exploring on the ground. Maverick only use EC-130 helicopters while Papillon may use EC-130 or A-Star helicopters for this tour. If comparing the Papillon tour with boat ride, you ignore the Grand Canyon West $49 entry fee included in the $319 price, you will see that the boat ride only costs $10 more than the Maverick Landing tour.