Starling Aerospace completes seats for first Britten-Norman Islander built at reshored Bembridge line

UK aircraft interiors specialist Starling Aerospace has completed the crew and passenger seating for the first Britten-Norman Islander to be built in the UK from detail component level since production was brought back to the manufacturer’s historic home at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight.

The company has delivered the fully trimmed seating for aircraft 2317, marking another milestone in Britten-Norman’s programme to restore complete Islander airframe production to the Isle of Wight.

While the Islander has long been closely associated with Bembridge, production of the aircraft’s airframes moved to Bucharest from 1968. The completed airframes were subsequently brought back to the Isle of Wight for fit-out, customisation and certification, with the aircraft’s design, type certificate and production control remaining in the UK.

Aircraft 2317 represents a significant change, with its detail components manufactured at Bembridge and the airframe assembled at the site.

As an approved line-fit and refurbishment provider for Britten-Norman, Starling Aerospace was responsible for building up and trimming the first shipset of passenger and crew seats, including the installation of foams and covers.

Starling has also supplied the design data and supporting certification evidence required by Britten-Norman as part of the aircraft’s final certification process.

Coralie Wigg, co-founder and director of Starling Aerospace, said: “It is a real privilege for Starling Aerospace to play a part in this important chapter for Britten-Norman and British manufacturing. The Islander is an iconic aircraft, and seeing it built from detail component level on the Isle of Wight is a significant moment for the industry.”

She added: “The seats may be a small part of the finished aircraft, but they are an essential contributor to both crew and passenger safety and comfort. We are therefore delighted to have delivered these seats and to support Britten-Norman as this aircraft moves towards delivery with additional aircraft to follow as production ramps up.”

Aircraft 2317 was rolled out at Bembridge on 30th of July 2026 before making its first flight on 3rd of September.

The flight was particularly significant, taking place from the same Isle of Wight runway used by the Islander prototype for its first flight in 1965, underlining the continuity between the aircraft’s original development and the return of production to its birthplace.

The aircraft is now undergoing flight testing ahead of delivery to the Falkland Islands Government Air Service (FIGAS). It will become the first Islander to be delivered from the reshored Bembridge production line.

The return of airframe production to the Isle of Wight has been a long-term project for Britten-Norman. Plans were developed in 2017 before the programme was formally launched in 2023.

Since then, the company has invested in CNC machine tools, tooling and manufacturing facilities at Bembridge, alongside rebuilding the workforce required to support the programme.

The site employed around 100 people in 2024. That figure has now grown to approximately 180, reflecting the increasing level of manufacturing activity as the Islander programme moves towards a higher production rate.

Aircraft 2317 is not being produced in isolation. A second Islander airframe is already progressing through the Bembridge production line, while components for the following aircraft are already being manufactured.

For Starling Aerospace, the seating programme demonstrates how the return of aircraft manufacturing to the UK also creates opportunities for specialist suppliers across the country’s aerospace and aviation supply chain.

For Britten-Norman, meanwhile, the completion and flight testing of aircraft 2317 represents a tangible step towards establishing a sustainable, complete Islander manufacturing capability once again on the Isle of Wight.

More than six decades after the prototype first took to the skies from Bembridge, the Islander is therefore entering another chapter in its long history — with the aircraft once again being built from its individual components at the site where its story began.