With a roar of engines and a thump of blades, the helicopter rose above Land’s End airport, darted across the ocean and 15 minutes later touched down on a landing area dotted with daisies and buttercups on the Isles of Scilly.
After an absence of six years, the Scilly helicopter service – a thrilling treat for visitors and a lifeline for islanders – had resumed.
On a still, hazy Monday morning, the Guardian was invited to experience the restored service’s first flight from mainland Britain’s south-west tip to St Mary’s, the largest and most populous island in the archipelago.
Among the first passengers on the 10-seater AW169 aircraft were Jonathan Fuller and Stewart Creasey, two day-trippers from York. They were delighted with the flight, which Fuller had booked as a surprise 30th birthday present for his partner. Neither had been on a helicopter before.
“That was a great experience,” said Creasey. “It was a little daunting flying over Land’s End and into the Atlantic, but when you see the islands in the mist it’s amazing.”
Stephanie Goody, from Penzance, Cornwall, was visiting relatives on the islands. “For me it’s more a matter of getting from A to B,” she said. “I’m just glad it went ahead in the end. There’s been a bit of controversy, hasn’t there?”
There has indeed been a bit of a saga. The last regular helicopter flight touched down in September 2012 after half a century of service. British International Helicopters (BIH) blamed the stoppage on rising costs, falling passenger numbers and a land dispute over its Penzance heliport.
It was a huge loss to visitors, who loved the speedy trip, but it was even more serious for islanders, who relied on the helicopter for quick getaways to the mainland, including for medical emergencies. Many have reported a slump in tourism, especially in the winter months when the passenger ship stops sailing and the fixed-wing planes can be grounded by poor weather.
In February the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group announced it would run a year-round service, Island Helicopters, flying back and forth up to eight times a day, six days a week. More than 5,000 people have registered their interest in the service and hundreds of tickets have been sold.
But one of the islands the company hoped to fly to – Tresco, which is famed for its subtropical gardens – refused to let it land. It is planning to run its own service to a new heliport in Penzance from next year.
Some islanders claim the company has launched the helicopter service to maintain its monopoly on travel to Scilly. The company already runs the passenger ferry, freight boat and fixed-wing plane service.
The campaign group Friends of Isles of Scilly Transport called the steamship helicopter a “spoiling tactic” rather than a move taken in the interests of the community.
The St Ives MP, Derek Thomas, has intervened, urging the company not to lose sight of its “core role”. He said recent problems with its sea services had led to empty supermarket shelves in St Mary’s and a pub running short of beer.
The transport minister Nusrat Ghani has written to the company asking for reassurances on its long-term plans for the passenger and freight boat services.
The Isles of Scilly council, which operates the airport on St Mary’s, informed the steamship company last week that it would not let the new helicopter service begin because the required environmental assessments had not been carried out. Concerns had been raised over nesting birds including shags and lesser black backed gulls.
Determined that the launch should go ahead as planned, the flight on Monday was designated as a charter rather than a scheduled flight. It meant the helicopter took off a little later than planned and had to touch down on the grassy fringe of the airport rather than on asphalt.
The designation also meant passengers were ushered through a wooden farm-style gate, while luggage was handed over a wire fence. But the passengers agreed that it added to the charm of the journey.
Islanders milling around the airport had mixed views. Lady Marian Berkeley, a councillor and resident of the island of Bryher – famed as the setting for Michael Morpurgo’s Why the Whales Came – said she would turn her back whenever the steamship helicopter appeared on the horizon.
Sam Hicks, a dairy farmer on St Agnes and the producer of Troytown Farm ice cream, said he was delighted to see the new helicopter land as it would help keep the steamship company viable.
The chairman of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, Andrew May, said the launch of the new service was about increasing choice and capacity rather than shoring up its position. He said he was “bemused and bitterly disappointed” by the intervention of Thomas, and the “particularly challenging” environment in which the boats sometimes operated made it difficult to ensure supplies always got through.
He said he hoped the difficulties with Tresco and the islands’ council would be resolved. “This new service gives visitors and islanders more choice over how they travel and makes the transport network more resilient,” he said. “Which is exactly what our customers say they want.”