The new large hangar at London Biggin Hill Airport (LBHA, Booth N5708) is approaching completion and representatives are on hand at NBAA selling space for aircraft and offices. The airport has been growing in significance in recent years and has recently extended its opening hours to appeal to U.S. visitors in particular, a move that also prompted Bombardier and Signature to take on the MRO/FBO that was previously run by Rizon.
The new hangar, which is next to the control tower/terminal building on the north side of the main runway, 03-21, is dual-span totaling 130 m/426 feet wide and 40 m/130 feet deep, offers 60,000 sq ft of space for aircraft and has 33-foot-high (10m) high doors. This means it can accommodate wide-cabin, long-range jets such as the Gulfstream G650s or Bombardier Global 7000 simultaneously. Also there is 10,000 sq ft of new office space at one end, adding 33 feet (10m) to the hangar’s width, and an additional 70,000 sq ft of ramp space in front.
Robert Walters, business development director of LBHA, told AIN that the hangar would be “ready in December,” and said it would be the largest on the airport.. Walters believes it is among the largest hangars in Europe, and will serve to enhance Biggin Hill’s status as the leading dedicated business aviation airport in a London Borough. Farnborough has more traffic but is farther away from the city, while Biggin Hill is only nine miles south of the UK capital’s Docklands area (Canary Wharf). “Our strategy is to make Biggin Hill one of the best equipped business aviation airports in Europe,” he said.
Meanwhile, traffic is growing steadily, in some cases outstripping all expectations, said Andy Patsalides, LBHA marketing director. For example, Bombardier Global Express traffic is up appoximately 70 percent over last year at the same time, but this is in part thanks to Bombardier’s maintenance facility. However, Patsalides believes that Americans are coming to understand the value of Biggin Hill’s location, especially since the Castle Air-operated helishuttle started in June 2015. “Our American friends have cottoned on to the six-minute [trip] to London,” he noted.
Walters said that the airport has submitted an application for a GPS/LPV approach for Runway 03 to the UK CAA,. At present it has an ILS on Runway 21. The smaller runway, 11-29, closed some time ago, and Walters confirmed that it willremain a taxiway, and will soon be repainted as one.
As business jet traffic continues to increase at Biggin Hill, Walters is increasingly aware of the difficulties facing flight training facilities on the airport, and it is understood that at least one has been considering a move to nearby Redhill Aerodrome.
Further progress has been made on the hotel that will be adjacent the Bombardier/Signature facility, and Walters confirmed that it would be considered for full planning “by the end of October” and that construction could start in next year's first quarter. During the week that NBAA is being held in Las Vegas, there will be an exhibition at Biggin Hill so that the general public can examine the new plans.
Finally, with Biggin Hill now having “10 MROs,” according to Patsalides, progress toward the London Aerospace and Technology College on the site means “final approval [is expected] on November 9." This is expected to become a major contributor to the workforce at the airport and beyond and provide employment for many local young people.
Walters concluded by saying, “There’s a snowball effect that is helping to attract even more Blue Chip tenants [to LBHA].” And on top of that, Patsalides pointed out that the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar continues to go from strength to strength, recently being awarded a six-year contract to maintain the Spitfires of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, which is based at Duxford. The Heritage Hangar offers rides in its two-seat Spitfire “Spirit of Kent” (Biggin Hill is in the county of Kent as well as being in the London Borough of Bromley), and almost every flyable day, its Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 engine can be heard roaring down the runway.