Helicopter charter in South West England

Where can you charter a helicopter in the South West?

The region has two clusters, the Bristol and Cotswolds area in the north-east and the long Devon and Cornwall peninsula, and each needs a different plan. Prior permission applies everywhere.

• Bristol Airport is open 24 hours with customs on site and a 2,011 m runway. It is slot-coordinated and handling is mandatory. Landings between 22:00 and 07:00 carry a surcharge and need prior permission between 23:00 and 07:00.
• Exeter Airport publishes summer weekday hours of 08:00 to 20:00 and winter weekday hours of 08:00 to 18:00, with shorter weekends. Customs is on site within those hours.
• Cornwall Airport Newquay has a long 2,744 m runway and customs on site, opening to 21:30 in summer. Non-scheduled movements need prior permission, and flights between 17:00 and 09:00 need it before 15:00.
• Penzance Heliport is the mainland gateway to the Isles of Scilly, open Monday to Saturday, closed on Sundays, daylight only. Land's End Airport has the same Sunday closure.
• The Isles of Scilly are served by St Mary's airport and the private Tresco heliport, both closed on Sundays with no fuel at St Mary's.
• The Cotswolds Cotswold Airport at Kemble (Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00) and Gloucestershire Airport at Staverton, plus Cheltenham Racecourse on race days.

How much time do you save in the South West?

Time saved increases with distance, and the South West has long distances. All figures come from our route data; the road times are free-flowing, so a real journey will be slower.

• Bristol to Cardiff takes about 15 to 20 minutes by helicopter, against about 1 hour 29 minutes by road.
• Bristol to Cheltenham takes about 25 to 30 minutes, against about 1 hour 14 minutes.
• Exeter to Bristol takes about 25 to 30 minutes, against about 1 hour 26 minutes.
• Newquay to Bristol takes about 50 to 60 minutes, against about 2 hours 56 minutes.
• Bristol to London takes about 45 to 55 minutes, against about 2 hours 43 minutes.

Cornwall to anywhere else is where the road is weakest: Penzance to Bristol is about 60 to 75 minutes in the air and about 3 hours 26 minutes by road. The Isles of Scilly crossing, about 15 minutes from Penzance, has no road equivalent, and we do not compare ferry timings. Read our helicopter versus car journey times article for the method.

What do people in the South West fly for?

Bristol and its aerospace and technology employers drive weekday business flying, with regular patterns to London, Birmingham and Cardiff. Our London to Bristol and Bristol to Birmingham route pages show typical timings. Corporate day trips from Bristol to the Midlands are a good fit for same-day business trips.

Events and hospitality are the second pillar. The Cheltenham Festival in March is the largest race-day helipad of the year, receiving several hundred flights across the four days; see Cheltenham by helicopter and our horse racing by helicopter guide. Landings at the racecourse are booked through the helipad company and race-day tickets are required on arrival. Glastonbury is also on our events list for corporate and hospitality movements; check with the organiser for dates and arrangements.

Rural and estate work is common too: the Cotswolds, Dorset and Devon have shooting estates, and shooting by helicopter explains how we plan the day, including the rules on carrying guns.

Islands and the far west: what to know first

Flying to the Isles of Scilly or Land's End needs more planning than a city trip. Sunday closures at Penzance, Land's End, St Mary's and Tresco are the biggest catch, followed by daylight-only operations and winter hours at Tresco that run only in short morning and afternoon windows. St Mary's requires at least two hours' notice and has no fuel. Tresco is a private island heliport run by the Tresco Estate, strictly by prior arrangement.

We plan a return around those hours and, for important trips, an alternative landing site. If the flight is cancelled because of the weather, you pay nothing. See the Isles of Scilly and Penzance pages for the details.

Neighbouring regions

Coastal Hampshire and Dorset are on the South Coast page. Cardiff and South Wales, only minutes across the Severn estuary, are in Wales. The Birmingham end of the Cotswolds link is covered in the Midlands. The national picture sits at helicopter charter UK, and the UK heliports and airfields directory lists every site.

For a secure movement to or from a Cornwall address, secure helicopter transport describes how we plan point-to-point flights, alternates and timing. In short, helicopter charter south west is about long distances and short opening days, so book with the closing times in mind.

More places, events and routes in the South West

Cornwall and Bath via Bristol each have a page of their own, with the airfields, hours and journey times that apply. For the horse trials season, Badminton Horse Trials has a page covering landing options near the estate.

Route pages from this region include Bristol to Cardiff, Bristol to Oxford, Bristol to Southampton and London to Cheltenham.