Helicopter charter in London and the Home Counties

Where can you charter a helicopter in London and the Home Counties?

You can charter from any of around a dozen sites inside and around the M25. The right one depends on where you start and finish, and on opening hours, which differ widely. Prior permission is needed at every one of them.

• Biggin Hill a business aviation airport in Bromley with Border Force on site. Published hours are 06:30 to 23:00 on weekdays and 08:00 to 22:00 at weekends and public holidays.
• Northolt RAF Northolt in Hillingdon takes civil flights on weekdays 08:00 to 20:00 and weekends 10:00 to 17:00, with a booking cell and a permission number issued the day before.
• Elstree in Hertfordshire and Denham in Buckinghamshire: small aerodromes with a helicopter focus and good access to north-west London.
• Redhill our own home base in Surrey, with staffed hours of 09:00 to 19:00 in summer and 09:00 to 17:00 in winter.
• Blackbushe a general aviation airfield in Hampshire on the A30, within reach of Camberley and the Berkshire border. Check its own website for current hours before you plan.
• Battersea and London City and the Docklands heliport: the river and Canary Wharf ends of central London.
• Heathrow and London airports generally: slot-limited, so we usually route helicopter passengers through the sites above.

What about flights into central London?

Central London flights run from the London Heliport on the Thames at Battersea, and that is the job of our sister brand. Battersea Helicopter covers the heliport itself, transfers, Paris and every London-centre question, so we keep this section short and send you there for that part of the journey. Its pad is about 3 nautical miles from Westminster Bridge.

What we add is the regional end. If you are flying from Leeds, Cardiff or Edinburgh into London, we arrange the northern or western leg and the Battersea landing together, so you have one quote and one plan. See also our London helicopter transfers page.

How fast is a helicopter around London compared with the road?

The gain is largest on the orbital and radial routes the M25 handles badly. These figures come from our route data: helicopter block time at 135 knots plus eight minutes, against free-flowing road time. Real road journeys are slower in traffic.

• Biggin Hill to Heathrow takes about 15 to 20 minutes by helicopter, against about 1 hour 10 minutes by road.
• Biggin Hill to Ascot takes about 20 minutes, against about 1 hour 11 minutes.
• Battersea to Epsom Downs takes about 10 to 15 minutes, against 33 minutes by road.
• Luton to Cambridge takes about 20 to 25 minutes, against about 1 hour 2 minutes.

Beyond the home counties the gap widens fast. Biggin Hill to Birmingham is about 45 to 55 minutes in the air and nearly 3 hours on the road. Our helicopter versus car journey times article explains the method.

What do people fly for here?

Most flights are business. Canary Wharf and the City generate regular movements to and from Docklands, while the Thames Valley towns of Reading, Slough and Bracknell generate flights from Redhill, White Waltham and Blackbushe to meetings the road cannot reach in time. Our business helicopter charter page sets out how a day trip is planned, and same-day business trips covers the return-the-same-day pattern.

The event calendar is the second driver. Ascot has a helicopter heliport that runs all five days of Royal Ascot, Epsom Downs has a race-day helipad for the Derby Festival, and the football and rugby grounds, from Wembley to Twickenham and the Emirates, are all on our events hub. Landing at a venue is always subject to permission, and we confirm it before booking.

Country houses and hotels such as Cliveden, The Grove and Brocket Hall are popular for corporate days, again subject to landing permission and site suitability.

Who else uses these skies?

London airspace is among the most complex in the world, which is why sites matter. Fixed-wing aerodromes such as Fairoaks, White Waltham, Wycombe Air Park, North Weald, Stapleford and Rochester accept helicopters by prior permission, with hours that run from early morning to around sunset. For security-minded travellers, a short transfer from a quiet aerodrome rather than a busy terminal can be a sensible choice, and secure helicopter transport explains how we plan it.

If you need a jet rather than a helicopter for the long leg, charter-private-jet.com covers jets and turboprops, and the car at either end can come from a London chauffeur.

Next to this region

Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Hampshire sit in South East England, with Gatwick, Farnborough and Goodwood. Essex, Bedfordshire and the eastern airports are in the East of England, and the coast from Southampton west is on the South Coast page. For the national picture, see helicopter charter UK. In short, helicopter charter London is a two-part plan: the right regional airfield for your side of the M25, and Battersea for the river end.

More places, events and routes around London

The home counties each have their own aerodromes and landing sites. We have a page for Surrey, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Windsor and Essex, with the sites, hours and journey times for each.

The calendar is busy too. Wimbledon, Wentworth, Newbury Racecourse and Henley Royal Regatta all fall within easy reach, and the longer hops are covered on the London to Oxford, London to Cambridge and London to Southampton route pages.