Isles of Scilly skybus history
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Early Life

Skybus Airline is a wholly owned airline of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company who also run the islands ferry and freight shipping from Penzance. Prior to the start of the airline in 1984 the parent company ran sightseeing flights and a flying school from Lands End(St Just) Airport which was also owned by the airlines parent company. It was established as an air charter airline and started flights in August 1984 operating high frequency rotations. 1984 saw Brymon Airways withdraw their Plymouth to Isles of Scilly route from their schedules so Skybus stepped in to continue the schedule service to the islands.

The Loss of an airline

As previosly stated The company operated two air services prior to forming Skybus. Westward Airways operated frequent sightseeing trips around the cornish coatline. The second was the Lands End Flying School which operated training flights both flew from Lands End Airport. These were operated using a fleet of two Cessna 152's and two Cessna 172's. These two operations were ceased in February 2009 which left the company with a dilema of what to do with the airframes. It was decided to sell off the 152's but to transfer the 172's to Skybus and then they were eventually disposing of them.

Present Day

Eventually Skybus elected to withdraw its service from Plymouth to the islands but continued a high frequency service to the islands from Lands End. Over time the airline has added Southampton, Bristol, Exeter and Newquay to their summer schedules but now concentrates its service at the Devon airport at Exeter and included Newquay from Cornwall. Newquay was once a hub for the airline but this ceased in 2023 due to the airline replacing its fleet of ageing BN2-A Islanders in favor of the De havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter. The companies reasoning was that if they were to fly one aircraft type all the maintenance could be done at Lands End(St Just) Airport.

Key Dates

  • 1971 - Westward Airways formed created an engineering/restoration facility along with pleasure flying and a flying club.
  • 1984 - Skybus formed offered offered freight and chartered passenger service and purchased its first BN2-A Islander G-BNFU.
  • 1985 - 35000 boxes of flown to mainland using the island in the year.
  • 1987 - 1st schedule flight to the islands.
  • 1994 - Skybus take delivery of its first De Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter G-BIHO on 26th april
  • 2015 - Another BN2-A Islander purchased G-BUBP earlier in the year it appeared in the James Bond film Spectre.