TAG Farnborough Airport (Booth 1867) is ready to welcome more U.S. visitors. While the airport’s overall aircraft movements for 2016, up to the end of September (the end of the third quarter), showed only a modest increase over 2015, the number of visitors from the U.S. was up by 6.7 percent. According to Brandon O’Reilly, chief executive of TAG Farnborough, “The statistics show an interesting story, and corporate America is most certainly traveling.” However, this still only represents 4 percent of total movements at Farnborough, and is up from 3.8 percent in 2015. In absolute numbers the U.S. launched 730 movements last year and 779 this year, both through the end of September.
The other news for TAG Farnborough is that the proportion of heavy jets landing there continues to increase, and was “up 7.4 percent over the same period last year,” O’Reilly told AIN. Also, based on statistics provided by the UK CAA, Farnborough accounts for 33 to 35 percent of all business aircraft movements into the London area, which is significant, given that there are many other options. However, apart from London Biggin Hill, the UK capital’s other airports competing with Farnborough are increasingly congested with low-cost airlines and other airline traffic.
O’Reilly said that continuous investment in TAG Farnborough has seen it steadily improve its already well reviewed facilities, including a new lounge. “The new facilities have really taken off,” he said. “The number of people using the new lounge dovetails to those larger aircraft.” While the airport is handling more music groups, sports teams and other specialist groups traveling by private aircraft, it has also been able to continue a high-quality, discreet level of service for other customers.
Somewhat surprisingly given the steady growth, Farnborough is by no means busy. “We’re operating at around 25,000 to 25,500 movements a year, and we can go up to 50,000,” said O’Reilly. This is the movement cap set by the local government, and Farnborough is not allowed to have scheduled services.
At one time, the airport was limited to 28,000 and it almost reached the limit around 2008, said O’Reilly, before the financial crisis hit. “So we are growing back toward the numbers we saw before the crisis started. We also have plenty of hangar and ramp space.”
TAG Farnborough is here at the NBAA show asking more U.S. aircraft owners and operators to think of it as a gateway to London, and beyond. O’Reilly said that U.S. visitors come “from all over the country. Many arrive from California, LAX and Van Nuys, for example, and also from the East Coast, from White Plains, for example. Many stop off here for customs and immigration purposes, and we don’t know their final destinations. Predominantly, aircraft are from the two [U.S.] coasts, though we do get quite a lot from Chicago, too. Overall, we get more corporate than private [traffic] from the U.S.,” he said.
According to O’Reilly, the NBAA show has been “extremely important” in putting the airport on the business aviation map over the past 10 years. Otherwise, Farnborough would only be known for its biennial international airshow. “I’ve been [to NBAA] every year since I joined [the airport] in 2006,” said O’Reilly. “It’s one of the most important events we go to, as the U.S. market is extremely important to us. We are now seen as a brand in our own right and important in business aviation as an entry point to London.”