Air transport for the Royal Family and government of the United Kingdom is provided, depending on circumstances and availability, by a variety of military and civilian operators. These currently include The Queen's Helicopter Flight (part of the Royal Household), No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF), chartered civil aircraft or, occasionally, scheduled commercial flights provided by British Airways.

Overview compared to other nations

In an Independent Air Review published in June 2006, the following summary of the RAF jets was made: The aircraft of 32 Squadron do not have the range, capacity or payload required for medium and long-haul international travel. The current aircraft cannot fly beyond central Europe without refuelling nor do they provide facilities to allow principals to be properly rested. This is in contrast to many other nations, including all G8 countries. All of the VIP fixed wing aircraft currently operated by No. 32 Squadron RAF were delivered in the mid-1980s and have an out of service date of 2015.
The RAF has a fleet of eight jets (the two larger jets carry a maximum of 30 passengers) equipped for VIP transport. The larger jets are modified from their civilian counterparts to carry extra fuel so that they can reach all of the capitals of the European Union (except Cyprus), but they cannot fly to the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa or across the Atlantic without refuelling. The Royal Family and the government make use of larger chartered jets for missions that exceed the capacity of the dedicated aircraft (often chartered from British Airways), or they fly to a distant location on scheduled aircraft and often charter a small fixed wing jet on location.

History

The first aircraft ordered specifically for transportation of the Royal Family, two Westland Wapitis, were delivered to No. 24 Squadron at RAF Northolt in April 1928. Between 1929 and 1935 the Prince of Wales purchased 13 aircraft. Although the RAF maintained at least one of these aircraft for a time the Prince of Wales eventually became solely responsible for the aircraft. When the Prince ascended to the throne in 1936 as Edward VIII, The King's Flight was formed as the world's first head of state aircraft unit. In contrast the first flight of a sitting US president was in January 1943. This unit initially used the King's own de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide; however this was replaced in May 1937 by an Airspeed AS.6J Envoy III.

The outbreak of World War II in 1939 led to the replacement of the Envoy III with an armed Lockheed Hudson. A de Havilland Flamingo was added to The King's Flight in September 1940.

In 1942, The King's Flight was disbanded and its responsibilities transferred to No. 161 Squadron. 161 Squadron was an operational military squadron, involved in the dropping of supplies and agents over occupied Europe throughout the War. The King's Flight was reformed on 1 May, 1946 at RAF Benson with a single aircraft, a de Havilland Dominie.

As The Queen's Flight from 1952, the unit operated a variety of aircraft for the transportation and pilot training of members of the Royal family, including Vickers Viking, Avro York, de Havilland Devon, Douglas Dakota, de Havilland Canada Chipmunk, Beagle Basset and Hawker Siddeley Andover aircraft.

In 1983 the RAF leased two BAe 146 aircraft to assess their suitability as replacements for The Queen's Flight's Andovers. The trial was a success and three VIP-configured BAe 146-100s entered service with The Queen's Flight (as BAe 146 CC.2s) from 1986 as the flight's first jet aircraft. In 2002 one of these BAe 146s was sold as surplus. These jets, also known as the BAe 146 Statesman, have a specially designed Royal Suite cabin. Although the civilian BAe 146-100 has 70-94 seats, the BAe 146 CC.2 seats up to 30 passengers in comfort (although it is normally configured for 19). This aircraft have a large passenger space compared to a mid-size business jet. The cabin space is over 700 square feet, which is almost as large as the smallest Boeing Business Jet which has 809 square feet. Most mid-size business jets have less than 200 square feet of cabin space. The 6.5' ceiling allows people to comfortably stand and because of the aircraft's size, and defensive equipment, this is the aircraft that normally transports The Queen domestically.

The Royal Squadron

A BAe 146 CC2 aircraft, delivered to The Queen's Flight in 1986 and now part of 32 (The Royal) Squadron

On 1 April 1995 The Queen's Flight was merged into No. 32 Squadron RAF to become No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron. Its BAe 146s and two Westland Wessex HCC.4 helicopters moved from Benson to 32 Squadron's base at RAF Northolt. This ended the RAF's provision of dedicated VIP transport aircraft; the aircraft of 32 Squadron are only available to VIP passengers if not needed for military operations. This was declared officially in 1999, with the Ministry of Defence stating "the principal purpose of 32 Squadron [is] to provide communications and logistical support to military operations; the Squadron's capacity should be based on military needs only; and any royal or other non-military use of... spare capacity is secondary to its military purpose." The effect of this declaration was to radically reduce the charge per hour to the royal travel grant-in-aid for flying in an RAF jet, because now only the variable costs of the flight were expensed to the royal travel budget. In the 2007/2008 fiscal year only 9% of the flying hours of the squadron were devoted to flying the Royal Family and their staff.

The Squadron also has six smaller British Aerospace BAe 125 CC3 jets, which seat a maximum of six passengers. The last of these jets was delivered in February 1984.

Other aircraft

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip disembark from Concorde on their state visit to USA in 1991

Other RAF aircraft have transported members of the Royal family and ministers, particularly for long range trips for which The Queen's Flight and Royal Squadron planes were unsuitable. This most often involved Vickers VC10 C.1s, XR807 and XV106, of the now disbanded No. 10 Squadron - later subsumed by No. 101 Squadron based at RAF Brize Norton.

Occasionally the supersonic aircraft, Concorde, was used to transport the Prime Minister and Royal Family, particularly to international conferences abroad.

Present arrangements

The responsibility for Royal Family travel was transferred to the Royal Household on 1 April 1997. Previously it was shared by the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Transport, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The funding comes in the form of a Royal travel grant in aid from parliament through the Department for Transport. Later that year the Royal Yacht Britannia was retired and not replaced, and the department was given authorisation to acquire a helicopter for dedicated private use. The maroon Sikorsky S-76C+ helicopter came into service with The Queen’s Helicopter Flight (TQHF) in 1998, and was given the registration G-XXEA, in honour of G-AEXX, the Airspeed Envoy that Elizabeth's uncle, the Prince of Wales first flew in the King's Flight.
The department controls The Queen's helicopter, charters jets and other helicopters privately owned, and schedules the Royal Train and the RAF jets when they are available. They are also responsible for the security and personal requirements of the Royal Family. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, The Queen no longer travels internationally on scheduled flights, but the rest of the family does whenever possible. Large fixed wing aircraft are only chartered for The Queen or the Prince of Wales. Prince Andrew and Princess Anne use scheduled and charter aircraft, but the other Royals usually travel by scheduled flights.
Travel options for the Royal Family and ministers are aircraft of No. 32 Squadron, scheduled commercial flights and chartered aircraft.

If the destination is beyond the range of the RAF aircraft or they are not available then the Royal Family takes a scheduled or a chartered flight to the location they are visiting, reserving enough seats for their entourage and for security. Once on location they frequently charter aircraft to take them and their staff to various locations on the trip.

Most air travel by cabinet and junior ministers is on scheduled commercial flights. Travel on 32 Squadron aircraft is recommended where it is more cost-effective than using commercial air transport, or where security considerations dictate that special flights should be used.

The RAF is unusual compared to other air transports of heads of state and government in that they do not have any dedicated VIP transport aircraft capable of crossing the Atlantic ocean or flying to Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa. With the military burden on the ageing VC10 fleet increasing as the number of aircraft in service decreases, the Prime Minister and senior members of the Royal Family have increasingly used chartered jets for long range travel (typically British Airways Boeing 777s).

In 2003, the government planned to acquire two dedicated executive transports also to be used by the Royal Family and senior officials, however, in March 2008 the plans were changed to acquiring one small aircraft and continuing the chartered and scheduled arrangements. This plan was deferred for another year in March 2009. In July 2009 plans were announced to purchase a used BAe 146, similar to the one used by 32 Squadron, for £3m for exclusive use of the Royal Family.

The Queen's Helicopter Flight (TQHF)

The Queen's Helicopter Flight is a private operation and entirely part of the Royal Household. It uses a single Sikorsky S-76C+ twin-engined helicopter, registration G-XXEA. The helicopter (the first airframe dedicated solely to royal use) entered service on 21 Dec 1998, about a year after the Royal Yacht Britannia was retired. This helicopter is commercial type widely used around the world, although the Queen's helicopter is only fitted with six seats for more comfort. TQHF is part of The Queen's Private Secretary's department and is tasked by the Royal Travel Office at Buckingham Palace.

An article in July 2009 indicated that Sikorsky was in final stages of preparing a S-76C++ for a replacement for the original helicopter. The expected delivery date was scheduled for August 2009. However as of the end of September, there is not article about delivery of the vehicle.

Cost of Royal Travel

The United Kingdom is one of the few major powers without a dedicated jet for the head of state and the head of government. The cost of Royal travel (not including cars) is dominated by Royal air travel, but also includes trains and yacht charter. All costs for the previous fiscal year ending March 31 are documented every year in a June financial report detailing the expenses for the Royal Travel Grant-in-Aid.
When the royal household assumed responsibility for royal travel in April 1997. In the second year, travel costs were reduced as two ageing RAF Royal Squadron Westland Wessex helicopters were replaced with the one Sikorsky S-76 helicopter; In July 2001, Prince Andrew retired from the Royal Navy and assumed his uncle's position as special representative for the UKTI. Travel costs began to increase since the position required extensive international travel. In recent years, critics are alarmed by the increase in the cost of fixed wing jets from £0.4 in 2003 to £2.6 in 2009 by the royals.

Helicopters

Up until the year ending March 2005 the Royal Household was required to itemise the cost of a Royal trip if the trip cost more than £2,500. Itemisation included the cost of transport, the destination, the purpose of the trip and the Royals that were present. For the year ending March 2005 the Royal travel financial report detailed 204 helicopter uses by the Royal Family (both from the dedicated Sikorsky S-76 helicopter and chartered helicopters. A total of 104 of the 204 flights were on trips that exceeded the £2,500 limit and had to be itemised (63 charter and 41 flights on G-XXEA). As a result of these annual reports the Royal Family were criticised in the media for their routine use of helicopters for very short trips instead of cars or public transportation.

Starting in fiscal year 2006 the reporting requirements were changed so that trips are itemised only if they cost more than £10,000. As a result of the changed requirements for fiscal year 2008 the only domestic travel trips routinely itemised are those involving the British Royal Train which always has a variable cost over £10,000 for each use.

For the last fiscal year reported (FY2009 is from 1 April 2008 through 31 March 2009) The Queen's helicopter flew for a total of 380 hours on 141 official trips. The Queen's helicopter was supplemented with private helicopter charter 58 times domestically and one times for use while on a foreign trip. Combined helicopter travel costs were £2,300,000 which includes the cost of the staff of TQHF. Passengers and destinations are seldom itemised since most trips do not cost more than £10,000.

Fixed-wing aircraft

RAF jets (97 hours large aircraft, 140 hours small aircraft in 2009):
For the year ending 31 March 2009 the Royal Family used one of the Royal Air Force BAe 146 airliners (15 trips) or a BAe 125 small business jet (70 trips) at a cost of £400,000.
The short range, limited size of the aircraft, advanced age and their availability does not make them suitable for all missions, and they are supplemented with scheduled flights and charter aircraft of various sizes. The larger jet, the BAe 146 was used much less often than the previous year. In FY2008 they were flown on 45 royal trips. In FY2009 they were used for one very long trip to Asia, and only 14 short trips. Prince Andrew and his staff flew on a BAe 146 on a six nation tour from Kiev, Ukraine to Beijing, China. Prince Andrew returned from Beijing on a scheduled flight to avoid the re-fueling stops on the trip back to Britain. This Asian trip constituted half of the year long use of the aircraft. Princess Anne flew on an RAF jet to Zagreb, Croatia and to Gibralter, while the remaining 12 trips were domestic.
Large fixed wing charter aircraft (100 hours in 2009):
On a long mission with a large staff, such as the Prince of Wales visit to South America in March 2009 (£660,594) or to Japan and Indonesia in Oct-Nov 2008 (£665,674).
Small fixed wing charter aircraft (90 hours in 2009) and Scheduled flights :
The Queen's state visit to Slovakia in October 2008(£93,505) and her state visit to Turkey in May 2008(£123,856) used small charter aircraft.

Many of Prince Andrew's trips for the UKTI have involved very long distance travel from his initial destination, and he charters a jet at the site. In Sep 2008, he flew on a scheduled airlines to Hanoi, and then chartered a jet to take him and his staff to several cities in North Vietnam. He then returned to London via scheduled airlines from Singapore.

The royal family is making increasing use of chartered flights domestically. Members of the royal family flew on at least 25 chartered aircraft for domestic flights in FY2009.
Scheduled flights alone (18 flights for members of royal family in 2009| numerous for staff):
An example of relatively modest royal travel costs is Princess Anne flying on scheduled flights to Melbourne, Australia in February 2009 for £21,349 to attend Victoria's Memorial Bushfires Service.

However, even scheduled flights are not beneath criticism. On 26-29 May 2007 Prince Charles and his staff spent £59,045 for seats on a scheduled aircraft to pick up an environmental award. His office said he is travelling by scheduled flight, instead of a chartered or private jet, to reduce his carbon footprint. But the Daily Mail reported that the Prince and his 20-strong party travelled exclusively in the first and club class sections. By booking the entire first-class and business class section of a jumbo jet where there are 62 seats, they effectively trebled their carbon footprint compared to if every seat was used.

Charter jets and the Environment

Prince Charles determination to bring environmental issues to the forefront of public policymaking has been regularly praised but has also left him open to accusations of hypocrisy. His choice of leasing an Airbus 319 that seats only 29 people for a recent tour to raise environmental awareness was criticised.

Labour MP Ian Davidson, a member of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said: 'It would be hard to make this up. To hear that the Prince of Wales is flying to South America to save the environment and taking 14 staff on his jet at hideous cost just for this trip is the height of the absurd. At a time when the greed of bankers is causing much adverse comment I would have thought that Prince Charles would have had more sense than to be so financially and ecologically wasteful.

"Blair Force One" and attempts to update the fleet

The Labour government has consistently shown its support for a dedicated aircraft. The aircraft has been labelled Blair Force One by the media; a play on the existing United States equivalent, Air Force One, and then-Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Proposals made in 1998 were subject to criticism, with the government proposals failing to tally with the requirements of the Royal family of Queen Elizabeth II, who would share the aircraft.

The proposals were re-evaluated in 2003, when the UK parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee recommended two dedicated aircraft with secure, advanced communication equipment for the use of the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Defence; the latter position was then held by Geoff Hoon, who supported the recommendation. Hoon added that the proposed £80 million budget was worthwhile given the then-estimated £5.6 million yearly cost of ministerial travel in the "shuttle diplomacy" era.BBC News 11 June, 2003
In December 2004 Sir Peter Gershon was asked by the government to undertake a study regarding the future requirements of Royal and ministerial air travel. His report, published in June 2006, recommended that "the Government establishes a new VIP air service based on two dedicated fixed-wing aircraft for the provision of air travel for the Royal Family and Senior Ministers" and that this should be acquired through "a competition... to allow the private sector to bid to provide [the service] to private sector standards and disciplines."
The new aircraft would have had communication facilities, the ability to carry press corps, and state of the art security systems. To reduce costs, the planes would not be purchased outright, but will be on permanent lease; the government estimated the cost at £12 million, claiming that it is comparable to the increased cost of Prime Ministerial travel (then increased to £9.5 million yearly). The aircraft were proposed to be ready for service in early 2008.

The plans received opposition from many groups; the Conservative Party condemned diverting public funds to the project from core services like health, and the Liberal Democrats and pressure groups including Transport 2000 and Friends of the Earth condemned the environmental impact of personal jet travel. The UK is the only G8 country without dedicated ministerial aircraft; Peter Gershon's report also argued that chartered planes involve security risks. Tony Blair's 2006 trip to South Africa was highlighted as an example of the problems of relying on such aircraft.

Cancellation

On 27 March 2008, Transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick announced via a written statement to the House of Commons that the government's plans to lease two aircraft for the sole use of the Royal Family and senior ministers had been scrapped.

His statement read: "I am recommending that the needs of the users of this service can best be met through procuring a small aircraft for official travel within the UK, chartered air services for longer journeys involving small parties, and a continuation of existing arrangements with UK airlines for journeys involving large parties.

This approach ensures better value for money for the taxpayer whilst also minimising the environmental impact of royal and ministerial air travel, producing an estimated 10% saving on CO2 emissions."

The purchase of one small plane for travel within the UK was approved by the government in March 2008, and it was anticipated that RAF would discontinue service on 1 April 2009 but in March 2009 the £7m 12-seater private jet plans were halted by recession. The government has decided that the Queen and Royal Family will continue to fly on No. 32 Squadron aircraft for the next year to defer the cost of a new aircraft during the economic slowdown. The replacement helicopter for The Queen's Helicopter Flight is still scheduled for August 2009.

Overseas Travel Arrangements

When the Royal Family travels outside of Britain, the Government provides air transport to and around the destinations travelled. However in three select countries, the transport is provided internally and outside of the responsibility of the British government:

In Canada, No. 437 Squadron of the Canadian Forces Air Command provides air transport for travel within Canada. This arrangement has been in place since the 1960s.

In Australia, No. 34 Squadron of Royal Australian Air Force provides air transport within the country.

In New Zealand, No. 42 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force provides air transport within the country.

See also

• Air transports of heads of state and government

• Air Force One

• British Royal Train

• The former Royal Yacht HMY Britannia

• List of Royal Yachts of the United Kingdom Includes references to chartered yachts