Penzance Heliport to close

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There are fears that Penzance could turn into ghost town following the news that the helicopter company which operates the Isles of Scilly air link is moving to Lands End to save money.

British International Helicopters (BIH) is set to switch to Lands End Airport from the end of March in a bid to save money on a route which has been losing money for years. By cutting the journey time by five minutes, the company says it will save fuel, which will allow more passengers on each flight. The Heliport, alongside the A30, will be sold.

There are fears, however, that by directing tourist traffic away from the town, local businesses could see a significant downturn in custom.

BIH, meanwhile, said it was too early to say whether the move would prompt any redundancies among its 86-strong workforce.

2 COMMENTS

  1. This looks to be a decision based on BIH’s ability to sell their present site when they apparently need cash. As their main borrowings seem to be with the recently crashed Bank of Ireland its not surprising. But if they are trying to fool anyone into thinking this has anything to do with saving their business they must think the world is stupid. They’re planning to transfer a single aircraft service which has suffered a series of flight cancellations because of “operational” reasons to an aerodrome where they have a fixed wing competitor who regularly has three aircraft available to fly to the the Isles of Scilly at a return ticket price that is £41 cheaper than the helicopter service. Any way you look at it it seems they will end up closing the service if they go ahead with the move. And the impact on Penzance’s and surrounding businesses will be bad. Meantime they are in for a real fight to get planning approval for the installations they will need at Lands End Aerodrome because what they want to do drives a coach and horses through most of the local planning restrictions if its allowed to go ahead. Seems to be a total shambles.

  2. If this plan is allowed to progress by Penwith Council , Penzance will suffer a blow from which it will find it hard to recover. The only winner in this scenario will be Newquay Airport , which would certainly get my business each year for the flight to Scilly. The Penzance economy will suffer if this is alowed to go ahead.

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