0:00
How the other half live. That's usually
0:02
a rhetorical expression, but today I'm
0:04
finding out its literal meaning.
0:05
Helicopter travel is the preserve of
0:07
London's elite, celebrities,
0:09
billionaires, and high-flying, if you'll
0:12
pardon the pun, chief executives. I'm
0:14
here at the London Heliport in Battersea
0:17
to take a ride on this helicopter behind
0:21
me, uh which is operated by Leonardo.
0:24
Leonardo is an Italian company which
0:26
owns the only end-to-end helicopter
0:28
manufacturing facility in the UK. And
0:31
we're here to visit their new facility
0:33
in Elstree. Come with me, let's go.
0:35
Leonardo attracted headlines earlier
0:37
this year when it won a 1 billion pound
0:40
contract to build helicopters for the
0:42
Ministry of Defense. The company had
0:44
warned it could shut its UK helicopter
0:46
manufacturing facility if the government
0:47
delayed or abandoned the investment
0:49
program. Now that deal is in the bag,
0:52
the company is turning its attention to
0:54
its commercial arm, which builds
0:55
helicopters for private use. The brand
0:58
is popular with many household name
1:00
British billionaires. This has just been
1:02
opened as part of a 10 million pound
1:04
investment, which is expected to have
1:07
more than two dozen staff
1:09
working at this facility
1:11
over the next couple of years. Leonardo
1:13
picked Elstree for the site of its new
1:15
helicopter support hub. The site is a
1:17
stone's throw away from Elstree Studios,
1:19
the collection of film production
1:20
studios in the area, of which one is
1:22
owned by the BBC, and soon a major new
1:24
facility will be opened by Sky. You can
1:26
expect the nearby Elstree airfield to
1:28
become a popular travel hub for big name
1:33
really does represent the coming
1:34
together of many years activity. It's a
1:36
15 million pounds outlay in the facility
1:39
itself. There's a further 10 million
1:41
gone into ensuring we've got all of the
1:43
right capabilities that we need on this
1:44
site to serve all of the fleets of
1:46
helicopters that our customers might
1:48
have. I'm really pleased as a former
1:50
apprentice myself that we're going to be
1:51
investing in apprenticeships. So,
1:53
Hartford University, just around the
1:54
corner, we have a partnership with them
1:56
looking at the types of skills we might
1:57
want going forward. So, we can start to
2:01
apprentices. That will give young people
2:02
in the local community here an
2:04
opportunity to build on the 100 years of
2:06
heritage that already exists. Our former
2:08
CEO, Roberto Cingolani, had talked about
2:09
reviewing the investment case into the
2:13
our domestic customer customer our
2:17
end up awarding that particular program.
2:19
I'm pleased to say that now 3 months
2:22
after the event the decision was made to
2:23
proceed. Of course, that demonstrates
2:26
the government's commitment to our
2:28
capabilities to Leonardo in the UK. And
2:30
I think this is part of that response
2:32
although these decisions were taken some
2:34
time ago. We've also recently done an
2:38
of a of a technology company.
2:41
Some of those things could have been
2:44
supported at any one time. So, I think
2:46
the government's decision has been a
2:47
catalyst for us to look at renewed
2:49
investments in the UK.
2:51
One in people and we will continue to
2:53
grow our apprenticeship and graduate
2:54
programs that I mentioned we have 900
2:56
apprentices grads across the UK. But
2:58
also then in other potential M&A
3:00
activity mergers and acquisitions, but
3:02
also in facilities like this.
3:04
>> The UK aviation market is comfortably
3:06
the biggest in Europe by passenger
3:08
numbers. There are over 1,000 active
3:10
registered commercial helicopters in the
3:12
UK according to the Civil Aviation
3:14
Authority. And in the capital helicopter
3:17
usage is growing with around 19,000
3:19
journeys made in 2025, a jump of 17%
3:23
compared to 2 years earlier. If money
3:25
was no option, you'd see me commute to
3:27
work on this every day.
3:29
But for now, I'll have to stick to my
3:31
single-speed bicycle.
