Having recently received final approval to move to longer operating hours, London Biggin Hill Airport (Booth 1850) is taking on 15 to 20 more employees and hopes to welcome more visitors from the U.S. The new hours are particularly advantageous for incoming transatlantic flights (Local Time 06:30-23:00 weekdays and 08:00-22:00 weekends).
Business development director Robert Walters told AIN that the longer hours will suit U.S. operators. “Some of London’s airports are turning business aviation away, especially from 06:30 to 09:00 in the morning, so we have the flexibility for U.S. customers to land early, and on a day trip they can stay until 23:00. [So] for the NBAA audience, that’s fantastic.”
He added, “But most importantly, we have the support of the local community. We received 75 percent support [from local residents] for our longer operating hours and [stricter] environmental requirements.” The agreement is subject to the installation of a noise- and track-monitoring system.
“We should see this signed off in the autumn, and it will come in during spring/summer 2017,” airport managing director Will Curtis told AIN during the annual Air Charter Expo (ACE) exhibition at Biggin Hill on September 13.
“We have for 22 years now been setting out our long-range vision and strategy, and piece by piece the puzzle is being put together,” said Walters. “Slowly but surely we’ve put the Biggin Hill name in the right place.”
Among other developments at the airport, Bombardier has set up a European maintenance base in the former Rizonjet hangar. Signature now runs the FBO side. Biggin Hill’s own bespoke FBO operation and terminal is available for non-Signature customers, who tend to be operators that patronize the extensive Signature chain.
Meanwhile the airport broke ground on a new hangar on October 12. This 60,000-sq-ft hangar is on the other side of the terminal from a similar hangar, which is now at capacity. The new one will have 10,000 sq ft of office space on three levels.
Walters said, “We feel that a private, secure hangar is key for many customers. It has capacity for up to six G650s or Global 7000s, and we’re building another five G650/Global Express-size parking slots. The hangar will be finished by late summer 2017.”
He noted that some tenants at Biggin Hill have built their own hangars. “The wonderful thing about Biggin Hill is that you can rent the land and build your own hangar,” said Walters. He added that the other side of the main Runway 03-21 from the terminal building has a large amount of land, and building more hangars is “in the Local Plan,” which is a government requirement for development. The new hangar is being built by Civils, the company that also built the former Rizonjet facility.
“We also hope to break ground on a four-star hotel for aircrew next year,” said Walters. “It is to be located next to the Bombardier service center and will open in 2018.” And in addition, to provide local manpower, a training college is to be established next year. The London Aerospace & Technology College, will tap London South East Colleges as its curriculum provider. “To safeguard our future we’ve got to help our tenants bring the resources, and there is a fundamental shortage of people wanting to train in aviation,” said Walters, who suggested this drop-off was linked to security and lack of easy access to aircraft and airports. The aim is to “train around 75 to100 engineers [British term for “technicians”] a year, and we will train to the B2 standard.”
The Biggin Beguine
According to the airport’s marketing director Andy Patsalides, “WingX data shows we are outpacing the competition,” with Biggin Hill traffic “up 7 percent year-on-year.” For example, he said, in June the airport saw 42 Gulfstreams, and July this hit 80. “Some were at the Gulfstream operators’ conference,” he admitted, “But numbers are particularly good on all large cabin airplanes.”
Walters said that the airport had experienced “14 percent growth in transatlantic visitors, and a continuing trend to more large-cabin aircraft. Now more than 50 percent of landing fees come from aircraft over 20 [metric] tons [44,000 pounds]. The BBJ is the largest we can take, and we have several regular BBJ customers.”
Patsalides pointed out the “price advantage” offered by Biggin Hill, and that Castle Air’s Helishuttle can whisk people from the airport to the London Heliport in six minutes. They can also go to the heliport near Canary Wharf in the London Docklands.
At the time of the ACE event, he said operator Castle Helicopters was “about to celebrate the one-thousandth [shuttle service],” and this had been surpassed by early October with Walters saying, “It’s over one thousand now and going really well. To central London, it’s quicker to fly to Biggin Hill than to London City Airport [to reach central London].” Walters said having no restrictions on runway slots and being a port of entry are advantages too, and customers appreciate the shuttle taking just six minutes at a fixed price, with availability at short notice.
Patsalides said that business aviation operators can rely on the airport’s commitment to the local community that there would be no scheduled or airline charter services. In addition, he added, “The airport is now open longer than anywhere else, if you ignore those with 24-hour operations.”
Reflecting on increased industry interest, Curtis told AIN, “We’re in discussion with a number of other companies. Business aviation is really feeling the squeeze at other airports. We have the desire and the space to accommodate them, and you’re not going to be squeezed out by scheduled operators.”
“We are talking to a mix of OEMs and MROs,” said Walters. “There is significant interest because of the formula we have created. Bombardier has been the first, which we are thrilled about. They are hoping to have the doors open in November for the first business.”
Another operational development at Biggin Hill will be GPS approaches at both ends of the main (03-21) runway, to complement Runway 21’s ILS approach. This will help better manage movements. Walters said two different approaches had been designed for 03, one for better visibility conditions, which will keep aircraft farther away from the airspace of London Gatwick Airport.
Asked about the agreement signed in August 2013 between Biggin Hill and Teterboro Airport to become “sister” airports, Walters said Biggin Hill had started to emulate Teterboro’s political role as a “reliever” to other airports around the city, which are increasingly congested with scheduled traffic. He noted the Airports Commission report on new runways in London, in which the author Sir Howard Davies noted the importance of business aviation to London’s and the UK’s economies. “Biggin Hill, Farnborough and Oxford are critical to that, and we work as a community to make sure we’re all getting the [message across].”
Finally, recent months have seen the fleet of business aircraft based at Biggin Hill growing. Walters told AIN this had just reached 60 with more than 20 available for charter. “The market is waking up to Biggin after many years of being seen as the poor cousin,” he said. Examples of based operators added recently include Sovereign Business Jets (recently acquired by Castle Air), which announced at ACE that it had added a Challenger 300, with a Phenom 100 also due to be added soon. Sovereign also operates two Hawker 800s.