Tresco Heliport is a

heliport A heliport is a small airport which has a helipad, suitable for use by helicopters, powered lift, and various types of vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also hav ...

located on the island of

Tresco Tresco may refer to: * Tresco, Elizabeth Bay, a historic residence in New South Wales, Australia * Tresco, Isles of Scilly, an island off Cornwall, England, United Kingdom * Tresco, Victoria, a town in Victoria, Australia * a nickname referring t ...

, in the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...

off the southwest coast of the United Kingdom. The heliport was served by a scheduled helicopter service from 1983 to 2012, and since 2020 a new scheduled service now operates from the new Penzance Heliport. Currently, Tresco Heliport offers a landing site for private and charter helicopters by private arrangement.

History

Tresco Heliport had a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P677) that allowed flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee. The

aerodrome An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes inc ...

was not licensed for night use. The heliport was owned and operated by Tresco Estate, who lease the island from the

Duchy of Cornwall A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between "sovereign ...

. Tresco Heliport was opened by John King, Baron King of Wartnaby, Chairman of

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

, on 26 April 1983. Tresco's principal industry is tourism, and the heliport supported this by enabling a scheduled helicopter service to and from the mainland. This scheduled service came to an end in 2012. On summer weekdays the heliport received up to six flights a day from Penzance Heliport on the mainland, with two services a day in winter. Passengers were conveyed from the heliport to their resort or destination on a passenger carrying trailer drawn by a

farm tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commonly, ...

. A footpath from one of the main landing beaches, at Carn Near, to the Abbey Gardens crosses the heliport landing field; it was closed by warning lights and bells a few minutes before a helicopter was due to land at the heliport, and opened again after the helicopter had taken off. The heliport was officially closed on 31 October 2012 and all commercial flights ceased operations. Private and charter helicopter flights to Tresco were still welcomed by the owner, by prior arrangement. In 2016, plans were announced for a new helicopter service between a new Penzance Heliport and the Isles of Scilly. The service launched in March 2020 and flights now operate into both St Mary's Airport and Tresco Heliport under the name of Penzance Helicopters, operated by Sloane Helicopters.

Airlines and destinations

References

External links

* {{Airports in the United Kingdom Airports in Cornwall Heliports in England Buildings and structures in the Isles of Scilly Transport in the Isles of Scilly 1983 establishments in England Tresco, Isles of Scilly

History

Airlines and destinations

See also

References

External links