Manufacturer hails key milestone in production-reshoring effort.
Britten-Norman is gearing up for the delivery in the coming weeks of the first BN-2 Islander assembled from detailed component level in the UK.
To be handed over to customer the Falkland Islands Government Air Service (FIGAS), the piston-twin (MSN2317) performed its maiden sortie on 3 September.
While that flight was conducted with the aircraft still in its protective primer, it has today entered the paint shop for the application of the FIGAS livery.
Further flight testing and completion activity will take place this month, ahead of customer acceptance at the end of September, shortly followed by its delivery.
Britten-Norman has been working since 2023 – prior to its pre-pack administration and changes of ownership – to repatriate Islander production to its factory at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England.
While Britten-Norman initially built aircraft at Bembridge, a long-standing relationship with Romaero saw large elements of the Islander production transferred to Bucharest in Romania.
Most recently, this arrangement saw Romaero building major sub-assemblies with these then transporting to Bembridge by road for final assembly.
It says the changes to the production set-up will help it ensure both the quality and on-time delivery of aircraft and also incorporate customer requirements earlier in the assembly process.
“Operators want to know two things. Will the aircraft do the job, and will it arrive when we said it would,” says 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.”
With the first UK-built Islander now flying, a second is coming together at Bembridge ahead of a first flight scheduled for early 2027. Components for a third aircraft have now been ordered, says Britten-Norman.
“The ambition remains a continuous production cadence building towards eight aircraft a year,” it adds.
Britten-Norman declines to reveal the number of Islanders in its backlog but says following the first flight it can begin converting letters of intent it holds from customers.
“First flight is the milestone those operators have been waiting for, so taking those to contract is where our focus goes next,” the airframer adds.
In addition to reshoring production, Britten-Norman has also resolved another long-standing problem: by regaining access to Bembridge airport it no longer has to send aircraft by boat to its site at Lee-on-the-Solent near Portsmouth for flight testing.
The post Great Britten: airframer completes first flight of UK-built Islander first appeared on FlightGlobal.