Penzance

[GROUNDHOG]

And why not news from a heliport..... It seems Penzance Heliport is to close down and BIH will transfer all Isles of Scilly services to Lands End Airport.Shame really after so many years but I guess times are tough for all and the burdon of running an airfield is just too much.

[22/04]

What goes around comes around.....

But it does seem a retrograde step. Why- can't imagine there's much pressure on from other uses for the Land and Penzance is much more accessible- are they going to run motor coaches from Penzance station!

[Toxic Thrust]

I have experienced flying from Penzance Heliport many times and a fine experience it is too! I will miss the sight and sound of the S61's chugging over Penzance. There are tens of thousands of people that use that service that link in the the trains and utilise the facilities in Penzance. I agree with 22/04 and they will certainly need to have the ground transportaton shuttles to cope with the demand but good luck to them anyhow. At least hopefully a fixed wing and a rotary wing service to the islands will co exist on a level playing field even if St Just is rather hilly and bumpy

[bobleeds]

This seems a great pity, I've had many happy flights on BCEB over to the Scilly Isles. However, it probably makes financial sense to combine with the Skybus services at St Just and sell the heliport to Morrisons or whoever.

Long term would have thought sharing the excellent facilities (including paved runway) at RNAS Culdrose would be best for the region

[davidjohnson6]

Seems a pretty poor deal to close a heliport very near a town on the main train line through Cornwall, to Plymouht, Exeter and London just for the sake of gaining a branch of Morrisons

[bobleeds]

Don't Quote me on the Morrisons bit - I was only using them as an example!

Whilst the Heliport is close to Penzance Rail Station, I don't think ther is any major Rail/Air integration other than a little shuttle coach if it's still running.

[Wycombe]

There is already a Morrisons very close to the Heliport, and a Tesco's, so I doubt it will go to retail!

On a more serious note, BIH's prices are very high, and assuming that moving to St Just means they can adopt a lower cost model, something will need to be done to attract pax to drive that bit further, and to compete with Skybus.

[pennineuk]

I have flown many many times from Penzance and the move of services to Lands End will be a great pity, not least becase when there is fog in the area, Lands End always seems worse than Penzance. Many a time I've sat at St.Marys with the helicopter running and Skybus to St.Just suspended.

[Stampe]

A great pity the Penzance heliport is a unique facility.I,ve holidayed in the islands many times and settled on the helicopter as the most reliable and slickest way of making the crossing.Whilst the move may make business sense I can,t see the service being as reliable given St Justs elevation of 401 ft and the local weather.Lets hope the move is a success a great service.

[andy_smith89uk]

> Whilst the Heliport is close to Penzance Rail Station, I don't think
> ther is any major Rail/Air integration other than a little shuttle coach if
> it's still running.
>

First Great Western - Isles of Scilly
National Rail Enquiries - Special Offer - Isles of Scilly Train and Ferry/Helicopter Package

[bobleeds]

Thanks AndySmith89UK - FGW certainly seem to have forged better links with BIH than British Rail ever did. Good luck to them - hope they can continue to maintain an integrated link via St. Just.

[pennineuk]

BIH report that the move to St.Just has been delayed until winter 2009 because facilities won't be ready, especially hangers for the choppers which would have to fly back to Penzance at night.

[virginblue]

How long does it take to get from Penzance to Land's End by car? Might give the ferry a boost as the travel time from Penzance by sea becomes more competitive compared to a car/flight combo via Land's End, given the much cheaper ferry fares.

The other aspect that surprises me is that I fail to see the competitive edge for BIH from Land's End. At the moment, it is more convenient to depart from Penzance for almost all travellers, be they tourists, locals or businessmen. From Land's End, Skybus will be quite a bit cheaper as they operate planes rather than helis, won't they? (Or are the high operating costs indeed off-set by the larger capacity of the heli?)

[ChalfontFlyer]

Virginblue,

It takes about 20 minutes by car (depending on tractors traffic!).

The ferry takes 2 hours 40 minutes so it's obviously still quicker by air.

Comparing standard fares:

Ferry £95 return
Skybus £140 return
BIH £170 return

Yes a bit cheaper from Lands End but not a big enough difference I would suggest to make many people switch from Helicopter to Plane.

Perhaps the "novelty" factor of flying on a helicopter is the motivator to keep it going?

[MrSoft]

Perhaps the "novelty" factor of flying on a helicopter is the motivator to keep it going?

A lot of people, especially the more elderly, are happy to sit on the helicopter but wouldn't set foot on either Skybus or the Scillonian

The helicopter also provides the only direct connection to Tresco, a somewhat lucrative holiday business. If they chop that, Tresco travellers will need to connect from St Mary's by boat, which is fun once or twice but at the mercy of tides etc. and would I suspect kill Tresco timeshare business by up to 20% at a stroke.

I suspect Tresco Estate may take a vested interest in helping BIH to keep the route(s) flying. However it's not a time where the estate has pots of money to chuck around, given credit crunch etc.

[Non Emmett]

I have traveleod to SCilly via the S-61 but personally prfer the boat. We frist used the S-61 service in 1973. My questionis howmuch longer can the S-61s sustain this service and what might be used to replace them? Super Puma perhaps?