London Battersea **!!&***!!!
 

In a letter to customers this week, Weston Aviation have substantially upped their landing fees from October 1. (Current figures in brackets)

Grp 1-3 is £210 (£90), 4 £305 (£275), 5 £330 (£300), 6 £500 (£450), 7 £690 (£625) and 8 £1200! (£1075).

(That 1-3 increase of over 100% looks like a "push off, light helis" fee)

The reasons they give are that they need to restrict movements because they may have to close until the end of the year - they are getting close to exceeding the annual limit.

This is one of the world's leading capital cities and our heliport is being managed worse than a small GA airfield.

"This year has seen a substantial increase in movements......" - well why didn't you manage it by turning away all the early and late movements ? That way you wouldn't be sitting on a pile of noise and smell complaints from residents. And the Mayor/GLA might have viewed your attempts as mitigation in the current noise enquiry.

Maybe they should do a 'car share' scheme were you have to go in with more than one passenger! :}

FNW

Ain't life great for Aviation in the UK?

Unfortunately Red Ken is not a big fan of helicopters - he took great pleasure in denying Al Fayed a site on top of Harrods. Maybe his socialist/communist roots prevent him from seeing helicopters as anything other than 'fat cats' toys.

FNW - they won't limit earlys and lates because they make too much extra dosh on those, thanks to Mr Harrods and Mr Chelsea etc

Here is fantastic opportunity for a revamp of the whole London heliport scene.

Red Ken and the residents don't use helicopters so why should they be subjected to the inconveniences associated with the heliport.

Scrap it. Build a modern high speed rail link(shouldn't take long) from a heliport on the outskirts or where the Millenium Dome is. Simple idea. Should be ready by the next Olympics.

Do you mean Beijing ?

Head Turner,

You expect the people who fly into Battersea to get on the train? Non starter I am afraid.

ppheli,

Didn't mention limiting earlys and lates (We're in enough at that time, especially very late and pay the price), my comment was tongue firmly in cheek.

If London wants to be the financial capital of the UK and have all these large companies operate out of it, how do they expect the executives to arrive? The road system is a shambles, as is the tube. Time is money to these people.

I don't think it will be long before the current owners build on the site. The latest work proves that land is valuable and thay are a building firm at the end of the day.

FNW

Here's what I don't understand:

I was on the first ever flight to land at LCY - before it got licensed. At that stage the planning requirement forbade anything other than prop fixed wing. Within a few years of opening, EGLC was accepting "whispering" jets - proving that planning is moveable.

But you still can't land a heli there - even if you're the Met. (Although Dennis Kenyon was allowed in during one Saturday "closed" period to do a display - but that was at the annual City community air day.)

The management of EGLC were recently quoted as saying they would like to manage a new heliport for London somewhere near their field, but not ON their field.

Why not ? They are about to accept Airbus FW - which must be noisier than most light helis. So why not create a "light" heliport at City for nothing bigger than Group 3 helis ? A perfect hub integrating with the scheduled fixed wing services. There's plenty of space........

Is Battersea really the right place for a heliport ?
Land value aside, do execs really want to arrive in an area where there is no public transport and badly blocked roads ?
If we assume that many of them are financial types then something with links to the City and Canary Wharf would be much better (Dome, Vanguard, LCY ?)
I am sure that the current owners of the local football clubs (Fulham & Chelsea) will hold the opposite view !
I cannot see Battersea lasting much longer.

Three Blades,

Why would Battersea not last much longer??

XD

Xavier,
No specific reason.
Just the assumption that a combination of rising land value and rising nimbyism from the ever encroaching neighbours will eventually spell the end.
I very much hope to be wrong.
TB

I hope so too!

Clearly a Heliport to the east of London would be very beneficial. But until such time as there is an alternative, I think we would be better to support Battersea.

the location of the heliport is not ideal, but all of the staff work very hard to ensure you're looked after.

I don't have an issue with them increasing their rates - it's the short notice that I felt was slight unfair. We received our letter yesterday informing us of an increase from 1 October.

I blame the government!! ;)

Battersea
 

Whilst I can see the situation that Battersea finds itself in and (as an Operator) we have acceped that they probably do not have a lot of choice but to increase the fees in an attempt to limit movements. Based on the information that they have given, two things concern me.

1). We have 2 Battersea movements booked next week for a very simple Charter Flight, these were booked some three weeks ago, the quote was given to the client, the client paid in advance. Battersea has given us 3 days notice of the increase, we phoned and asked if they would honour the booking at the old price as this was a firm quote booked and paid for, we were told point blank NO. Basically the attitude is take it leave it we dont care.

2). Again I understand the reason behind this move, but what has not been said is when the annual quota runs From & To, I presume from the wording of the notice it is Jan 1st to Dec 31st. My Question: Will the fees go back down to the previous level when the New Year starts or are they now here to stay.

Whatever the case we are stuck with this as Weston Aviation have us by the Go-Nads, but I do feel that they are being very inconsiderate to the Helicopter Industry in general by not at least honouring bookings already made.

All that said I do have to say that I have always found both the Staff and Management at Battersea very helpful and understanding and it is a shame that this action could cause so much bad feeling, had they honoured our movemets for next week at the Booked Price then I would not have had a problem with this but basically they have just taken £160.00 off my Charter, thats the profit gone if not more and with no leeway whatsoever.

Battersea
 

Further to my previous post I have just recieved a call from Battersea, they have reconsidered the situation and agreed to honour the slots booked before the announcement of the price increase, I did say they were normally helpful and understanding and I think this proves the case. Thank You Alan.

Headsethair, the reason LCY started taking jets was because the bloke who owned it bought a jet. Let's hope he buys a heli because if he does, rotaries will be allowed there within months of the purchase.

Headsethair
My records show that Gp 3 landing fee was £190
You've indicated by your rant that it was only £90
Personally, I can't see that an increase of £20 (Gp 3 now £210) is going to restrict movements to any degree which Red Ken will be happy with..........

Londoners, BHAB, etc etc - What a crazy situation the helicopter industry finds itself in.
It's bad enough that the major cities of UK (Cardiff & Newcastle exempt) do not have a heliport of choice - but for London to be in such a poor situation beggars belief.

How/why did it happen in the first place?
Are we just playing at this rotary thing?

London Heliport
 

I agree with the sentiments expressed above.

Battersea is staffed by very helpful people who do their best but is prohibitively expensive for the average private operator (like me) and in a very poor location with no transport links.

London is ripe for the develpoment of a new location that is fairly central but more importantly has great transport infrastructure. Location is a secondary consideration to connectivity.

I wouldn't mind paying the charges at Battersea if landing there ever got me within 30 mins of my destination, but the idea of paying those parking charges for time spent sitting in a taxi!

Let's hope more options open up in the future,

SB

So I have been shot down in flames. I am however flameproof.

The Olympics I was refering to were the Olympics which might be held after the forthcoming one....30 years time maybe!

The location of Battersea is wrong for the purpose and as I say again a heliport elsewhere (Dome) with a high speed rail link into the city would suffice. Those who decry getting into a train are very blinkered because your pasengers get into smelly taxis to take a slow smelly journey into the city. I for one would prefer a traffic free journey with a defined departure and arrival time.

The ball is on your side of the court now.

The (London) ODA are the people to talk to as construction contracts are being let at the present time.

They might have it mind already, or maybe not.

Who, or which body, would represent the helicopter fraternity to the ODA and make the proposition for a future London Heliport for the 21st Century?

h-r;)