End of the road, so to speak. Sad news, this service has been around for a long time.
The Press Association: Scilly Isles helicopter flights end
A South West town has been dealt a huge blow after a helicopter firm announced it was scrapping flights, with the threat of redundancies.
British International Helicopters (BIH) announced that it was closing the domestic helicopter passenger route between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly from November this year.
The company said the decision was triggered by a legal challenge by Tesco over plans to build a Sainsbury's supermarket on the existing BIH site.
A BIH statement confirmed the closure of the heliport would "affect employees" and that workers had entered a formal redundancy consultation process.
Managing director Tony Jones said: "The route has run for 49 years so this is an extremely sad announcement for BIH, its employees and its customers - in fact the whole of west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Unfortunately we had no alternative."
The company said the decision to close the route was "finally triggered by legal action taken by Tesco and two private individuals". It said the legal challenges of the planning process prevented the firm from completing the sale of the land to Sainsbury's.
BIH has repeatedly stated publicly that the land needed to be sold in a reasonable timeframe to release the capital required to continue the service, at a different location.
Cornwall Councillor Andrew Wallis described the decision as "a kick in the teeth" for the two communities. He added: "To me, this is two supermarkets squabbling over a piece of land, and the communities of Penzance and the Isles of Scilly are the ones to miss out."
Andrew May, chairman of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, which runs the Scillonian ferry service between the mainland and the archipelago, said: "The helicopter has been a fixture of islands travel for almost 50 years and during that time our two companies have worked together in a spirit of friendly competition.
"Our focus now must be to work with the island community to ensure that we do our best to compensate for this loss of service. We hope this will reassure and help allay concerns that people may have."