Penzance Heliport

The first scheduled passenger service between Penzance Heliport and St Marys Airport on the Isles of Scilly commenced on in 1st May 1964. The new heliport was formally opened on the1st September 1964 by Councillor Alfred Beckerleg, the Mayor of Penzance.
The company operating the service was originally known as British Airways Helicopters until its privatisation in September 1986, when it was sold to publisher Robert Maxwell who subsequently renamed it as British International Helicopters (BIH).
BIH successfully operated two aircraft on the "year round" service to St Marys Airport; and Tresco Heliport on the Isles of Scilly.
However in 2011 British International Helicopters announced that due to rising costs it was reviewing its operation at Penzance. To cut costs the service was dropped down to just one operational aircraft. The company also negotiated a deal with the supermarket chain Sainsburys to buy the site; thus releasing finances to build a new heliport which was proposed on land east of Penzance in the St Erth area of the county.
The proposal hit a number of set backs when (1) Sainsburys (initially) did not secure planning permission to build a superstore on the heliport site and (2) when local people objected to the proposed location for the new heliport in St Erth.
On the 1st August 2012 it was announced that the service between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly would be withdrawn with effect from the 1st November 2012.