September saw the opening of east London’s only commercial helipad. Located on a site in the Ford Motor Works at Dagenham, the London Docklands Helipad, operated by Breeze Aviation, is banking on its close proximity to Canary Wharf, the ExCel exhibition centre and London’s main airports to attract business. The company certainly seems to have found a gap in the market, with only the Battersea-based Weston heliport in the south west of the city offering any sort of competition.

Breeze commercial director Ed Moodie explained how the helipad came to be: “Our original vision was to set up a scheduled helicopter service, the plan being to link Heathrow with Paris. Of course, there’s a fantastic heliport right in the middle of Paris and we were looking to link to that with a large helicopter with a corporate jet interior set-up and flight attendant. From there we’d looked at a number of routes domestically, and clearly one of those is across London, linking Heathrow with Canary Wharf. Then 9/11 came along and of course everything went horribly quiet for a year or two. This current project is what has come out of all the market research we’ve done since then.”

The major, and most obvious, problem facing anyone wishing to set up a heliport in east London, was finding a location. Managing director John Wollner was told by everyone he asked that his chances of finding somewhere suitable were virtually nil. Undeterred, Wollner took to calling the Ford Motor Works in east Dagenham, whose management invited him to a meeting. Said Moodie: “Ford asked us to a meeting with their real estate manager, who pointed at a big map of the Dagenham plant he’d brought and said, ‘That there is a helipad!’” Now 14 years old, the helipad had been used by Ford for corporate purposes. With activity on the Dagenham estate having dropped off considerably, Ford saw Breeze’s proposal as a convenient way of using what was essentially a dead asset.

Breeze had been, by their own admission, lucky to find the site which they now lease from Ford. With commercial use planning permission from the local council now secured, the helipad has been operational since mid-September. For Breeze the easterly location of the helipad is everything, although not everyone may be familiar with deepest Dagenham. “To counter the question which we’re often asked, ‘Where the hell is Dagenham?’, the short answer is, we’re 15 minutes by road from London City Airport, 15 minutes from ExCel, 15 to 20 from Canary Wharf and the A13, you can honestly say, is a six lane highway going into Canary Wharf.”

“Of course, there’s a big regeneration programme for the whole area and it’s that whole process that we’re trying to tap into and LCY have tapped into that very successfully. Albeit slowly, the centre of London is moving inexorably east. You’ve got Canary Wharf dragging large city firms this way, with the working population of Canary Wharf expected to grow to 100,000 within two years.” The London Olympic bid is also proving a major factor. Moodie said: “The Olympic bid is driving a lot of the regeneration and development, and it certainly has the attention of city hall in a big way, such as in the development of the Lea Valley for the Olympic Village. Whether or not the bid progresses through to the next stage, there’s already huge momentum feeding into the regeneration of this area, and that’s what we’re really tapping into.”

‘it’s an amazing fact that nobody else has managed to unearth this helipad. But of course,

very often the simplest solutions are the best.’ – Ed Moodie, Breeze Aviation

Although Breeze sees much potential in the business charter market, it also has its eyes on another potentially lucrative prize. Moodie explains: “We believe there’s huge potential for what you could loosely call the tourist market. London sightseeing by helicopter has never really taken off, one of the main reasons being that there are no charter operators who have the location to offer really competitive tourist rates.

We think that a competitive rate, based on the observation of comparable services in New York, is round about £100 a trip. But to be able to achieve that you need some sort of forward operating base, close to where the sightseeing action is, and the action is obviously centred around the Thames, the Houses of Parliament and so on. So that’s a new market that we’re trying to develop.” It seems astonishing that no one has really tapped into this market before, and Moodie agrees: “Well, there’s really been no venue up until now, and it’s an amazing fact that nobody else has managed to unearth this helipad. But of course, very often the simplest solutions are the best. It does seem astonishing - but then again there are plenty of issues surrounding transport in London that are astonishing!”

As a helipad operator, to further extend its business Breeze has been working hard to develop strong partnerships with helicopter charter firms. Moodie explained how the system works: “We have something called the Breeze Partnership Programme which we ask operators to join. There’s no fee, but it means we can control use of the helipad, (which is strictly PPR) and it gives us credit checking ability. Because we don’t want to be an operator ourselves, we’re currently in discussion with a number of established, quality operators with regard to business and sightseeing charter, with a view to basing their aircraft here.”

Another potential market for Breeze comes in the form of the police and emergency medical services, and discussions with various groups are already well under way. Moodie says, “A key ingredient there would be the provision of fuel, and we’re quite well advanced in getting to that stage.”

Currently the London Docklands Helipad has a reception building with VIP lounge and a separate crew room, with internet access for weather data. There’s also secure parking for about 50 cars, and the company offers free limousine transfer down to the helipad itself, a journey of about two minutes. At the helipad itself, there’s a tarmac landing pad with lighting for evening operations (the helipad is currently open until 19:30 hours on weekdays), with parking for up to three additional helicopters. Said Moodie: “There’s also great scope for development. We’ve got an excellent relationship with Ford, and we hope to build on that over time.”

‘Another potential market for Breeze comes in the form of the police and emergency medical services, and discussions with various groups are already well under way.’

Obviously, international flights are also an option from the London Docklands Helipad, and Breeze has just reached agreement with Customs and Immigration and Special Branch for clearance of international flights, opening up the Paris, Le Touquet or even Amsterdam market. “Again, these are markets which are largely untapped,” he added.

Overall, the spirit at Breeze is one of optimism, but optimism founded on in-depth market research and team strength. Moodie is a qualified lawyer with a background in aviation management at Cathay Pacific Airways, whilst md John Wollner is a helicopter pilot and qualified engineer, with another director John Olsen, formerly a main board director of Cathay Pacific and chief executive of Cunard.

Moodie is confident that the Breeze team has everything in the right place: “We believe there are many brand-new markets to be opened up. There’s a lot of latent, pent up demand because of the fact that for so many years there’s only been a single, commercial helicopter facility in London.

“So we’re excited and we’re convinced we’ve got behind a number of major, forward momentum-type issues, such as development of the Thames gateway, the improvement of the A13, the eastward drift of central London, the gradual ripple effect of Canary Wharf, all moving in our favour.”