Britten-Norman flies first fully UK-built Islander aircraft

Britten-Norman flew its first Islander aircraft built entirely in the UK on Thursday, marking the return of complete airframe manufacturing to Britain after years of assembling major sections built overseas.

The BN2B-26 Islander took off from Bembridge Airport on the Isle of Wight at 2:25 p.m. and has now entered flight testing, the company said. The aircraft is destined for the Falkland Islands Government Air Service, known as FIGAS, which has flown Islanders to connect remote settlements across the Falklands since 1948.

Until now, Britten-Norman built major sections of the Islander overseas and shipped them to Bembridge for final assembly. The company says it now builds the entire airframe on-site from individual components, giving it direct control over the build schedule, tooling and quality checks rather than depending on parts arriving from abroad.

“Operators want to know two things. Will the aircraft do the job, and will it arrive when we said it would,” said Richard Milne, Chief Operating Officer at Britten-Norman. “The first has been settled for a long time. Assembling the airframe here is how we settle the second, because it puts the sequence, the tooling and the quality standard in our own hands.”

The aircraft reached 75% structural completion in June, had power applied for the first time on July 29, and rolled out of the factory the following day, according to the company. A second airframe is already under construction at Bembridge, and Britten-Norman says components for the aircraft after that are already on order. The company is aiming for a steady production rate of eight aircraft a year.

Britten-Norman says roughly 350 Islanders are currently flying in more than 70 countries, together logging about 20 million flight hours. The twin-engine aircraft can continue flying safely if one engine fails, runs on Lycoming piston engines with Hartzell variable-pitch propellers, and holds design approvals from UK, European and Ministry of Defence aviation authorities. Britten-Norman describes itself as the UK’s only approved civil aircraft manufacturer under the country’s A2 production certification.

Building the workforce for the new line has relied heavily on passing down decades of hands-on experience. Peter Dowers, who joined Britten-Norman as a fitter in September 1978, completed his 500th Islander build this year while training newer staff on the Bembridge line. Callum Trueman, who began his apprenticeship under Dowers in 2006, is now a production manager at the facility.

“This aircraft is Pete’s 500th and my first, and the next one is already on the line,” Trueman said.

FIGAS currently operates five Islanders across the Falklands for air ambulance flights, mail and freight delivery, and scenic tours, relying on the aircraft’s ability to operate from short runways. Britten-Norman has previously said FIGAS signed a letter of intent for four additional Islanders worth £7.97 million ($10.1 million), on top of the two aircraft it already has under contract, of which Thursday’s aircraft is the first.

Britten-Norman has not disclosed a target delivery date for the aircraft to reach the Falklands, saying only that delivery will follow completion of its flight test program.