New site in Elstree will offer maintenance to operators of around 200 aircraft
Leonardo’s new civil helicopter maintenance and support facility at Elstree aerodrome north of London is one of a series of coming and current investments in the UK, according to the Italian manufacturer.
The company officially unveiled what is its third European helicopter maintenance site on 27 May, two years after announcing a partnership with Elstree owner Aldenham Aviation at the EBACE business aviation show in Geneva in 2024. Elstree joins an aftermarket hub in Liege, Belgium and a line maintenance operation at Paris Le Bourget.
The new-build site, which supplements a 650sq m (7,000sq ft) leased hangar at the airfield that Leonardo began operating from in late 2024, represents a £25 million ($34 million) investment – £15 million on the building itself and £10 million in parts – says Francesco Bellardi, vice-president customer support and services at Leonardo Helicopters.
It comes on the heels of Leonardo securing in March a £1 billion contract for the UK’s New Medium Helicopter programme, under which the airframer will build 23 AW149s for the Royal Air Force. The win guaranteed the immediate future of its Yeovil manufacturing plant in the southwest of England.
Beyond that, the development of an autonomous helicopter for the Royal Navy could help Leonardo keep Yeovil in business in the longer term. Leonardo has designed a prototype, called Proteus, under a UK Ministry of Defence-financed programme, but funding for a production aircraft is still uncertain.
Clues could come with the publication of the UK’s Defence Investment Plan, expected around early June, which will lay out priorities to help the country’s manufacturers and supply chain support what is expected to be rising military spending over the next decade.
With recent investment in its Edinburgh-headquartered defence electronics business, a new site in Newcastle, and expansion planned at facilities in Reading and Luton, the company’s “commitment to the UK is clear”, says Clive Higgins, chief executive of Leonardo in the UK.
Higgins says Leonardo considered Yeovil for its UK commercial support site, but chose Elstree as it wanted a dedicated, “non-industrial” facility close to its main customers and London, the epicentre of VIP operations.
Elstree will support a roughly 200-strong civil fleet in the UK and Ireland that includes North Sea, air ambulance, police, and VIP aircraft. Operators are currently flying their helicopters to Liege or using third-party providers such as Gama Aviation, says Bellardi.
The 2,180sq m building is large enough to house four AW189s, Leonardo’s largest commercial helicopter, and includes a showroom and crew lounge. Elstree will also offer customers a cheaper parking alternative to Battersea Heliport in the centre of the capital.
Elstree is a former Second World War airfield near Watford that is home to a flying school, helicopter charter company, and other small services providers. Leonardo’s site is the first on the north side of the runway and Aldenham has plans to develop the location further by attracting more investors.
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