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Land's End Airport lies on the far south-western tip of Cornwall, close to St Just in Penwith, and holds the distinction of being the most south-westerly airport on the British mainland. It is best known as the mainland terminus for Isles of Scilly Skybus services to St Mary's, and it also supports flying training and scenic helicopter flights, making it an interesting and scenic destination for visiting VFR pilots.
Land's End Airport is a small, privately owned aerodrome at the western extremity of Cornwall, operated by the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company through its subsidiary Land's End Airport Limited. It is chiefly known as the mainland base for the Isles of Scilly Skybus service to St Mary's, but it also hosts fixed-wing flying training with Air Cornwall and scenic helicopter flights, giving visiting pilots a genuine working general aviation airfield with dramatic coastal scenery on the approach.
The airfield sits near St Just in Penwith, about 6 miles (10 km) west of Penzance, at the far south-western corner of Cornwall. A Flight Restriction Zone exists around Land's End for drone operations, and pilots wishing to fly drones in or near the airfield must obtain approval, which gives an indication of the protected airspace immediately surrounding the site.
Land's End has two paired hard runways and one paired grass runway. Runway 16/34 is 2571 ft long, hard-surfaced and lit. Runway 07/25 is 2262 ft long, hard-surfaced and lit. Runway 02/20 is a grass strip 1488 ft long and lit, while the intersecting grass strip 11/29 is approximately 1497 to 1572 ft long and also lit. Field elevation is 381 ft.
The airfield is served by an Air/Ground Radio and Approach/Tower service known as "Lands End St.Just", operating on 130.7 MHz. There is no ILS at Land's End.
Land's End holds a CAA Private Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P568), which permits public transport and instructional flights for daytime use only, as authorised by the licensee. No further published circuit heights, joining instructions or noise abatement procedures are given in the available sources.
Plans to link the Isles of Scilly to the mainland were first developed by Cobham Air Routes in 1935. Cobham was subsequently acquired by Olley Air Service, whose subsidiary Channel Air Ferries developed the airport and began a scheduled service to St Mary's on 15 September 1937 using de Havilland Dragons. A helicopter service operated from the site until 1 September 1964, when it transferred to the newly opened Penzance Heliport, although BEA occasionally chartered Britten-Norman Islanders from Land's End when the helicopter was unavailable. Between 1966 and 1970 Scillonia Airways flew de Havilland Rapides from the airfield. The Isles of Scilly Steamship Group's Skybus operation began freight flights from Land's End in 1984 and added a scheduled passenger service in 1987. Skybus became the sole remaining air link to the Isles of Scilly from October 2012, after the Penzance helicopter service ceased. Until 2014 all of the airport's runways were grass, and the airfield closed for long periods during the waterlogged winters of 2012/13 and 2013/14, with flights temporarily relocated to Newquay. A new £1 million passenger terminal, including a new control tower and improved baggage handling, opened on 9 April 2013 after construction that began in July 2012.
Land's End Airport remains owned and operated by the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, with its Skybus subsidiary running year-round scheduled flights to St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly, as well as scenic flights around west Penwith. Air Cornwall offers fixed-wing flying lessons and air experience flights from the field, and Adventure 001 operates scenic helicopter flights. Visiting pilots should note that the aerodrome operates under a CAA Private Use licence restricted to daytime operations, and prior permission is required before flying in. Drone operators must seek approval to fly within the Land's End Flight Restriction Zone.
