Helicopter charter UK

What is helicopter charter?

Helicopter charter is the private hire of a complete helicopter, with its crew, for a journey you define. You choose where you start, where you land and when. Nobody else is on board unless you bring them, and there is no timetable to fit around.

People use it for three main reasons. The first is time: a flight from Birmingham to London takes about 40 to 50 minutes, against around two and a half hours by road. The second is access: a helicopter can use a heliport, an aerodrome or, with landing permission, a private site close to your destination. The third is control over the day, which matters when a board meeting, a race meeting or a protection detail is involved.

We focus on business travel, corporate days out, shooting, and the movement of people who need a planned, discreet journey. If you are looking for central London flights from the Thames, Battersea Helicopter handles those and we work alongside them.

How does helicopter charter work across the UK?

You tell us the departure point, destination, date, timings and the number of passengers with their weights. We then find a suitable helicopter that is positioned near you, check the landing sites at each end, and send one quote through our form. Having an aircraft close to your departure point keeps the price down, which is why a wide network matters.

On the day you arrive about 10 minutes before departure. Weights are needed for every flight, and where the hold is small we ask for luggage in soft bags. Landing at a hotel, house, venue or estate is subject to landing permission and site suitability, so we confirm it before anything is promised.

Prices depend on the route and the date, not on a standard tariff. For guide figures see the independent helicopter hire price guides, or ask for a quote on the form. If the flight is cancelled because of the weather, you pay nothing.

Which helicopter will we use?

We match the aircraft to the job, not the other way round. The main factors are passenger numbers and luggage, the distance, the landing sites at each end, and the time of year. Every aircraft we arrange is twin-engine. The helicopter fleet guide sets out every type we arrange.

• Leonardo AW139 up to 8 passengers, our VIP flagship with the largest cabin.
• Agusta 109 Grand up to 6 passengers, quick and refined.
• Airbus H145 D3 up to 8 passengers, roomy and dependable for larger groups and overseas clients.
• Eurocopter AS355 Twin Squirrel up to 5 passengers.
• Sikorsky S-76 twin-engine executive helicopter; seats depend on the layout, so ask us.

We do not offer single-engine charter. This Battersea guide explains why twin-engine aircraft are the right choice.

What affects the price of a helicopter charter?

The price is driven by flying time, the aircraft type, where the helicopter starts and ends its day, and the cost of landing and handling at each site. A helicopter that has to position empty to reach you adds flying time, so a departure point close to a based aircraft is cheaper than a remote one.

Date matters as well. Race days, Grand Prix weekends and Christmas week all draw heavily on the same aircraft, and landing slots at event heliports sell out early. Waiting time, extra stops, and out-of-hours landing fees also move the figure. We do not publish a fixed tariff because it would be wrong for most journeys. We quote the full journey in one figure, and our contact page and quote form are the fastest way to get it.

Helicopter charter by region

The UK is not one market. A flight in the Home Counties is a 15-minute hop between airfields, while a Highlands flight depends on a single airport and the weather over the hills. We have written a guide for each region, with the sites that serve it, real journey times and what people there fly for.

• London and the Home Counties Biggin Hill, Northolt, Elstree, Denham, Redhill and the Thames heliports.
• South East England Gatwick, Farnborough, Oxford, Goodwood and Kent.
• The South Coast Southampton, Bournemouth, Brighton and the Isle of Wight.
• South West England Bristol, Exeter, Newquay, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
• East of England Cambridge, Norwich, Stansted, Luton and Southend.
• The Midlands Birmingham, East Midlands, Nottingham, Leicester and Northampton.
• North West England Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool and Cumbria.
• North East England Newcastle and Teesside.
• Yorkshire and the Humber Leeds, York, Sheffield and Hull.
• Scotland Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Perth and Prestwick.
• Wales Cardiff, Swansea and North Wales.
• Northern Ireland Belfast and beyond.
• The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Ronaldsway.

The most searched helicopter charter cities

If you already know where you are flying from, these city pages go deeper into the airports and heliports that serve each place, the opening hours as published, and the routes people book most often.

• Helicopter charter Birmingham and helicopter charter Manchester, the two biggest business-flight cities outside London.
• Helicopter charter Leeds, helicopter charter Liverpool and helicopter charter Newcastle across the north.
• Helicopter charter Bristol, helicopter charter Southampton and helicopter charter Cardiff in the south and west.
• Helicopter charter Edinburgh, helicopter charter Glasgow and helicopter charter Aberdeen in Scotland.
• Helicopter charter Belfast for Northern Ireland, and helicopter charter London for the capital.

Every city page lists the sites that serve it, and the full set sits in the UK heliports and airfields directory.

Routes, airfields, events and news

Our helicopter routes hub compares helicopter and car times on the busiest city pairs, such as London to Manchester and Birmingham to Manchester. The figures are computed the same way everywhere: block time at 135 knots plus eight minutes, set against free-flowing road time, which is a floor because real journeys are slower in traffic.

For the sites themselves, the UK heliports and airfields directory lists every airfield and heliport we use, with hours as published and any prior permission requirement. Corporate days out are collected on the events hub, from Ascot to Silverstone. For background reading, start with how helicopter charter works in the UK in our news and guides.

Specialist work has its own pages: business helicopter charter, shooting by helicopter and secure helicopter transport. Whichever route you choose, helicopter charter UK is simplest when you give us the departure point, destination, date and passenger weights at the start.

New landing places, events and routes

We keep adding places. Recent city pages cover Orkney, Shetland, Cornwall, Hertfordshire, Kent, Hampshire and North Wales. New event pages include Wimbledon, Brands Hatch, St Andrews and Ayr Racecourse, and new route pages include London to Glasgow, Manchester to Newcastle and Bristol to Southampton.