France’s Strasbourg Airport intends to further develop its business aviation infrastructure and is thus seeking to add an FBO with a VIP lounge and a dedicated MRO facility. “The implementation of this project is planned in the short term and must allow a quick response to requests from users of the platform, be they diplomatic staff, VVIPs or other business aviation users,” the airport wrote earlier this month in its request for proposals (RFP).
It is open to working with “one or more” partners for the development and management of the envisioned services and infrastructure, airport officials added. According to the RFP, the FBO will need to guarantee a high level of service, accommodate all services necessary for passengers and crews, and offer corresponding services such as supplying aviation fuel.
As part of its offer to manage the FBO, the candidate could also submit a proposal to construct the FBO building; the accommodation facility; and a VIP lounge up to 10,764-sq-ft/1,000-sq-m in size, which will be “emblematic of the high-quality reception to the European capital,” the airport said. The planned FBO facility will have a ramp area of roughly the same square footage, along with a hangar or group of hangars providing a total capacity of 16,146 sq ft/1,500 sq m to 64,583 sq ft/6,000 sq m.
In substantiating its expansion project, the main French Alsace air gateway noted it is “strategically located, both economically and diplomatically, in the center of the EU.” The area is also home to more than 1,000 subsidiaries of foreign companies and 21 European institutions such as the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights, and Eurocorps.
Meanwhile, the airport has already committed to a 523,126-sq-ft/48,600-sq-m expansion of the ramp area to accommodate of any type of diplomatic or business aircraft. This includes extending the Bravo apron, dedicated to business aviation, and integrating new aircraft positions; creating a new Taxiway Romeo to provide aircraft with access to this apron; and implementingEASA standards for the entire zone. Work on this is expected to start next year and finish in mid-2021.