LONDON—Plans to restore a commercial helicopter service between the UK mainland and the Isles of Scilly have moved a step closer, following the approval of plans to build a new heliport to support the service.
A group of local investors is developing the facility, which is planned to be in the town of Penzance. They hope to restore a helicopter service after previous operator, British International Helicopters (BIH) shut down its operation in 2012.
The investors plan to spend £2 million ($2.5 million) on the new facility. They also plan to provide a service between the Scilly Isles capital of St. Mary, and another island, Tresco, starting in early 2018. Permission for the new heliport was granted Feb. 2.
The isles, an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, are about 30 miles from Cornwall in England. As well as being home to more than 2,000 islanders, they are also a significant tourist attraction.
The investors say the shutdown of the helicopter service resulted in a decline in visitor numbers to the islands, which has impacted the islands’ and the Cornish economies. Today, the islands can be accessed by air via the Isles of Scilly Skybus operation, which uses Twin Otters and Britten Norman Islander aircraft. A passenger ferry also provides service to the islands.
The previous helicopter service used a Sikorsky S-61N configured for 28–30 passengers. The new service plans to use a 15-seat Leonardo AW139. Flight duration is 15 min., with 17 flights per day planned during peak seasons. A return fare is expected to cost around £220.
“The volume—but also the content—of the public support demonstrates, without a doubt, the importance of this project to the future of tourism on Scilly, and in Cornwall as a whole,” Robert Dorrien-Smith, one of the investors, said. The investors have said they have identified an operator for the aircraft, but has not announced those plans at the time of writing.
BIH closed the helicopter service as a result of declining passenger numbers, and a failure to secure funding for a new heliport. The company was later snapped up by investment firm Rigby Group.

On 16 July 1983 a British Airways Helicopters commercial Sikorsky S-61 helicopter, Oscar November (G-BEON), crashed in the southern Celtic Sea, in the Atlantic Ocean, when en route from Penzance to the St Mary's, Isles of Scilly in poor visibility. Only six of the twenty-six people on board survived. It was Britain's worst helicopter civil aviation accident at the time.
An investigation was promptly carried out by the Accidents Investigation Branch (AIB), though calls for a public inquiry were dismissed. The AIB found that the accident was caused by pilot error, in failing to notice and correct an unintentional descent when attempting to fly at low altitude due to poor visibility. Other contributory factors were found to be a failure to monitor flight instrument adequately, and a lack of audio height warning equipment.
The crash sparked a review of helicopter safety, and eight recommendations were made by the AIB. Of these, seven were adopted, most notably that it was mandatory for there to be audible height warnings on passenger helicopters operating off-shore. It remained the worst British civilian helicopter accident until 1986, when the Boeing 234LR Chinook helicopter G-BWFC crashed in the North Sea, with 45 fatalities.