SW4831 : Penzance Heliport
taken 24 years ago, near to Gulval, Cornwall, England
The world's oldest passenger helicopter service started 1st May 1964 when BEA Helicopters Limited operated the first service between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly with a Sikorsky S-61.
Penzance Heliport was situated by the A30 a kilometre northeast of Penzance. It hosted scheduled flights to the Isles of Scilly, with a connection to the railway network at Penzance railway station by a special bus service. The heliport had a single concrete landing pad, which was 30m × 30m (98ft × 98ft), inside a 373m × 45m (1224ft × 148ft) grass strip.
Due to the high costs of maintaining the service and falling passenger numbers, British International Helicopters ceased the operation of the helicopter route on 31 October 2012. The company announced that it intended to sell the Heliport to a supermarket chain and relocate to another site in West Cornwall to raise funds, although no suitable alternative site was found in time to save the service.
Work on demolishing the heliport and constructing a new Sainsbury's on the site started in 2013.