The Isles of Scilly Steamship Group has announced the start of a new helicopter service from Land’s End Airport to the Isles of Scilly.

The new service will take off from May this year.

Called Island Helicopters it will operate year-round up to six days a week from Land’s End Airport, with up to eight return flights a day.

The flight time will be approximately 15 minutes.

Island Helicopters will be operated by Gloucester-based Specialist Aviation Services in partnership with the Steamship Group using a brand new ten-seater AW169 aircraft.

SAS is no stranger to Cornwall and already operates the Cornwall Air Ambulance from Cornwall Airport Newquay.

Passengers can park at Land’s End Airport or a new park and ride service will chauffer them from Penzance train station or their accommodation to and from Land’s End Airport in just 15 minutes.

Island Helicopters will complement and integrate with the existing Skybus fixed wing flights from Land’s End, Newquay and Exeter Airports, and the seasonal Scillonian III ferry which sails from Penzance.

Together they carried 214,000 passengers last year.

Andrew May, chairman of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Island Helicopters to Land’s End Airport and look forward to sharing our modern facilities, which already handle more than 60,000 passengers a year.

“We know there is demand from thousands of people who have really missed the helicopter since it stopped in 2012.

“We’ve listened to that demand, investigated what we believe can work, and have partnered with SAS to make it happen.

“This gives visitors and islanders more choice over how they travel and makes the transport network more resilient, which is exactly what our customers say they want.”

In recent years the Steamship Group has completely upgraded Land’s End Airport to include a new £1 million terminal building, extra car parking and a £2.6 million project to replace the main grass runways with asphalt, which was part-funded by the European Union.