Britain's perennial procrastination over airline access to the nation's capital, including ever-fewer domestic connections to international flights at Heathrow, has seen the Netherlands market Amsterdam as "London's fourth airport." It has been tempting travelers from Britain instead to join long-haul services through Schiphol airport (which has many more UK-connecting flights than Heathrow).
Nevertheless, London-bound business-aircraft operators do not need to head for Amsterdam: they can choose from more than a dozen available UK airports.
Comparative year-on-year statistics covering almost 50,000 business-jet departures in 2017 from London-area airports indicate contrasting fortunes. Relative to the previous year, figures show a range of almost 50 percentage points between the highest and lowest growth rates in different airports' departures numbers, according to German business-aviation data source WingX Advance.
The information reflects individual circumstances, running from a major international airport with 1,200+ commercial-aviation departures a day to general-aviation operations with a large proportion of local flight-training movements but few daily business-jet departures. (Several British airports—some as far as 65 miles from the capital—use "London" as a prefix for marketing purposes, while the city's principal access points—Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted—have dropped it from their respective brand identities for similar reasons.)
London Biggin Hill Airport (Booth U123), a general-aviation airfield seeking to capitalize on its position 12 miles southeast of London, recorded almost 6,300 business-jet departures last year, 19.2 percent more than in the previous year and making it the third busiest, according to WingX Advance. In contrast, Gatwick—the city's second-largest airport (essentially devoted to scheduled public-transport services and boasting the world's busiest single runway)—saw a decline of 28 percent over 2016, with just 306 such movements.
Biggin Hill Airport offers "VIP handling, a choice of FBOs, extensive hangarage, [and] support and maintenance services for all…business jets, [and] is free of runway-slot constraints." A "six-minute" helicopter service to the center of London is said to offer "the fastest transfer of any London airport."
Geographically almost central, London City Airport, home to London City Jet Centre (Booth T102) sits by the Thames river, six miles from the main financial district—known colloquially as "the City." It enjoyed 5.4-percent growth last year, recording 2,019 business-aircraft departures.
Some 40 miles to the northwest of the "Greater London area" and around 55 miles from the City, is London Oxford Airport (Booth B29), which last year handled a slightly higher 2,101 departures (almost unchanged from 2016, just 0.3 percent down). In the capital's southwest district, London (formerly Battersea) Heliport—sharing ownership with Oxford (a claimed 22-minute helicopter flight away)—is excluded from the data, which covers only business-jet operations.
London City Jet Centre—"the only FBO in London"—offers "VIP lounges, aircraft parking, and full flight- and ground-support services," plus security and immigration services. The airport is partially constrained by its steep approach and departure requirements, but the Bombardier Global 6000, Dassault Falcon 8X, Gulfstream 280, Embraer 550, and Cessna Citation Latitude are all approved for operations, with approval being sought for Gulfstream G650, Global 7000, Bombardier Challenger 350, and Pilatus PC-24 models.
Oxford Airport, the "only commercial airport between Heathrow and Birmingham [in the English Midlands region]," provides "aircraft and passenger handling, along with fuel, valet, and ground-support services, [with] landing, parking, and handling fees at ‘general-aviation’ rates well below the London norms for business aviation."
Overall, WingX Advance says that the two busiest London-area airports generated just over half of 2017's flights: 14,196 departures (up less than 1 percent) at London Luton Airport, about 28 miles north of the capital, and 11,336 takeoffs (an 8.6-percent increase) at TAG Farnborough Airport (Booth W33), named for its operator and lying 35 miles southwest of the capital.
At Luton and Stansted, Harrods Aviation (Booth A67) offers FBO services—24-hour/365-day up to Boeing 767 size at Luton—with "fully equipped" maintenance and engineering hangars at both. Harrods also has an off-airport Honeywell-accredited engine shop located near Farnborough Airport.
Meanwhile, TAG Farnborough claims to be "Europe's premier business-aviation airport," its FBO offering heated hangars, fuel, de-icing, aircraft storage, passenger- and crew-concierge services and showers, crew snooze rooms, customs and immigration clearance, pet-travel scheme, and private screening facilities, along with an on-site hotel.
London Southend Airport, at the end of the Thames estuary's north shoreline and owned by Stobart Group (Booth O96), enjoyed 6.3 percent growth, with just over 350 departures in 2017. But its 24-hour operations may see Southend enjoying a boost this year, since several competing points have become subject to night-flying limits.
The military airbase at RAF Northolt (about 12 miles west of the City, and whose runway is temporarily closed for renovation) had 5,285 civil business-jet flights last year–down 5.3 percent—with departures at Stansted, almost 30 miles northeast of London, up 13.7 percent at 5,024. Remaining London-area airports—in order, Cambridge, Blackbushe, Cranfield, and Heathrow—collectively accommodated around 1,350 bizav departures.