In June 1951, BEA introduced helicopter services between Northolt Aerodrome, Hay Mills Rotor Station in Birmingham and London Heathrow, operated by a pair of S51s.

[citation needed] A separate company was formed in 1964 as BEA Helicopters Limited and operated the first service between Penzance and the Scilly Islands on 1 May 1964 with a Sikorsky S-61.

The airline expanded into offshore oil & gas support flights from July 1965, from an operating base at Beccles Airfield, in Suffolk.

The company was involved in setting up the Airlink high-frequency helicopter shuttle service between Gatwick and Heathrow airports in 1978.

The successor company still operated the Penzance to Isles of Scilly route forty years after it was first scheduled, until it was cancelled in 2012.