The Agusta 109 Grand SP twin-engine helicopter

If you have ever watched an arrival at Royal Ascot from the inside of the helicopter park, the chances are that more than half of what touched down was a variation on a single airframe — the Leonardo AW109. In its most common modern form, the AW109SP, it is the most-chartered executive light twin in the United Kingdom, and for good reason: it is fast, it is refined, it is twin-engine, and it lands with the kind of presence that the brief usually calls for.

The original Agusta A109 entered production in the late 1970s as an eight-seat light twin aimed squarely at the corporate market. It was the first European helicopter to be designed around the executive transport mission rather than the military one, and the formula — twin engines, retractable gear, a stand-up cabin — has carried through every generation since. Agusta merged with Westland in 2000 to form AgustaWestland; AgustaWestland was rolled into Leonardo in 2016. The aircraft itself has been known variously as the A109, AW109, and now (formally) the Leonardo AW109 — the same airframe lineage, refined through the decades.

The 'Grand' variant arrived in 2005 with a stretched fuselage and Pratt & Whitney PW207C engines. The 'Grand New', later rebranded the AW109SP, followed at the end of the decade with a fully integrated glass cockpit, four-axis autopilot, IFR certification and a list of small refinements that put it ahead of the Power and the original Grand on long-leg and weather-day work.

• Engines: 2 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207C — 735 shp each.
• Cruise speed: 154 knots (around 285 km/h) — among the fastest light twins in service.
• Maximum range: approximately 460 nautical miles with standard tanks.
• Maximum take-off weight: 3,175 kg.
• Standard cabin: six passengers in club seating, single pilot — owners often configure for a seventh seat or an air-ambulance fit-out.
• Avionics: Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 integrated avionics, four-axis autopilot, full IFR.
• Landing gear: retractable tricycle — distinctive of the 109 family.
• Service ceiling: 19,600 feet.

The 109 cabin is the reason most charter clients pick it over the cheaper twins. The fuselage is wider than an AS355 by a meaningful margin, with two-by-two club seating and a third seat across the rear bench. Headroom is genuinely usable — adults can sit upright without slouching — and the cabin is generally finished in soft leather, with most of the UK fleet running diamond-stitched tan or grey hides. Noise levels in flight, with the door seals fresh and ANR headsets, sit somewhere between an executive saloon car and a turboprop.

Step access is via a wide rear door on each side, and the retractable gear means the floor sits low to the apron — no awkward boarding ladder in stilettos, a detail that matters more than it should at Ascot.

On the routes the UK market actually flies, the 154-knot cruise puts most journeys inside an hour. Battersea to Silverstone runs around 30 minutes block-to-block; Battersea to Goodwood the same; Manchester to London a touch over the hour. The aircraft is approved for instrument flight rules and operated under company operations manuals that allow weather-day departures most light singles cannot make — important when your event is on a fixed date and the forecast does not co-operate.

It is the workhorse for the briefs we get most often:

• Race days at Ascot, Goodwood, Cheltenham and Silverstone, where the on-site helicopter park is a 5-minute walk to the hospitality and the alternative is three hours on the road.
• Wedding parties of four to six landing at a country estate or hotel.
• Corporate roadshows hitting three offices in a day across the South East.
• Battersea Heliport movements where the small footprint and short take-off matter.
• VIP arrivals at Farnborough, Biggin Hill and the major business airports.

• Against the Eurocopter AS355 Twin Squirrel: the 109 is faster, quieter and substantially smarter inside, but costs around 50 per cent more per hour. For a five-seat short transfer the Squirrel is often the right answer; for VIP days the 109 usually is.
• Against the A109 Power: the SP carries an extra seat, has a more capable cockpit and is the better long-leg machine. For two-passenger work the Power is identical in feel and a touch cheaper.
• Against the Airbus H145: the H145 carries eight, has more range and shrugs off worse weather — but it costs around a third more per hour and is more aircraft than most six-passenger briefs need.

Wet hourly rates for the AW109SP currently sit around £3,600 plus VAT, before positioning, fuel and landing fees. As an example, a return London-to-Goodwood day for six guests typically lands in the £14,000–£17,000 region all-in once handling and crew waiting time are included — see our breakdown on helicopter charter pricing for the full anatomy of a quote.

The Grand SP is the default answer to most UK executive briefs because it does so few things badly. Send us a route and a date and we'll come back with a quote, a tail number and the operator's AOC details.