Birdwatch News Archive

Nearing extinction: the Penzance to Scilly helicopter service will be just a memory come November, it seems. Photo: Steve Young (www.birdsonfilm.com).

Scilly helicopter service ends

Posted on: 15 Aug 2012

Birders hoping to visit Scilly will have their last chance to visit by helicopter this autumn, as the regular service announces its closure.

British International Helicopters (BIH) has issued the news that its helicopter route between Penzance and Scilly, Cornwall, will cease from 1 November this year, resulting in the closure of its heliport at Penzance and the redundancy of employees. The route, which has run for 49 years, was used extensively by birders visiting the archipelago during peak migration periods, and moree notoriously by twitchers making brief forays to see the mega-rarities with which the island has become synonymous.

Initially, BIH planned to relocate their heliport about eight miles away at St Erth, after selling their existing site to the Sainsbury's retail group for development in 2010. BIH hoped that the capital released by this sale would enable the service to continue, and planning permission was granted by Cornwall Council and the Secretary of State to build a store, parking and business units.

However, BIH say that the decision to close the route altogether was forced by "legal action taken by Tesco's and two private individuals" challenging the planning permission process, resulting in a delay of six months at a preliminary expense of at least £300,000; this, and a fall in passenger numbers and rising costs, means that the helicopter service to the islands is no longer tenable.

Transport to Scilly will now involve catching either the Scillonian III passenger ferry from Penzance to St Mary's, or flying via Skybus from Land's End, Newquay, Exeter, Bristol and Southampton.