My ride in a helicopter over London as Leonardo expands its UK presence

Helicopter travel is the preserve of London’s elite: Celebrities, billionaires and high flying – if you’ll pardon the pun – City chief executives.

Leonardo attracted headlines earlier this year when it secured a £1bn contract to build helicopters for the Ministry of Defence.

The company had warned it could shut its UK helicopter manufacturing facility if the government delayed or abandoned the investment programme.

Now that deal is in the bag, the company is turning its attention to its commercial arm, which builds helicopters for private use. The brand is popular with many household name British billionaires.

Leonardo picked Elstree for the site of its new helicopter support hub. The site is a stone’s throw from Elstree Studios, the collection of film production studios in the area, of which one is owned by the BBC and soon, a major new facility will be opened by Sky. You can expect the nearby Elstree airfield to become a popular travel hub for big-name actors.

Leonardo’s new Elstree site was first earmarked during the pandemic after a months-long search for a new commercial hub near London.

Around £15m investment has been committed to building a new helicopter maintenance and support facility, with an initial value of stock investment of components and parts estimated to be over £10 million. 

The facility will support the creation of new highly-skilled engineering roles for local talent, with 10 employees currently based at the facility on a permanent basis to support maintenance. That’s expected to grow to around 25 employees during periods of high intensity demand, with up to four aircraft at the facility at a time.

If you’ve not taken a ride in a helicopter over London, I’d recommend you give it a go. I took a ride from the London Heliport in Battersea to Elstree in just six minutes, a journey that would normally take around 90 minutes by car.

It was a smooth, gentle ride as we hovered over London in perfect flying conditions. A bit like buying a Bentley or a Rolls Royce, the interior can be completely tailored to the tastes of the buyer – this one was upholstered with blue leather seats, but some clients ask for a mahogany panelled finish.

If money was no option, you’d see me commute to work in this every day – but for now I’ll have to stick to my single speed bicycle.