TAG Farnborough Airport (Booth 3409) has experienced a significant increase in movements, according to CEO Brandon O’Reilly, “There’s been quite a remarkable increase in movements [here] in the last year or so,” he told AIN. Partly due to intermittent closures of RAF Northolt, near Heathrow; and partly due to “the difficulty getting peak time slots” at busy airports such as London Luton, business aviation has continued to look to Farnbrough–and Biggin Hill–for their London access, and especially traffic from the United States.
For the January to September period, Farnborough saw a 15 percent increase in movements compared to the same period last year. This reflected a steady increase in large intercontinental business jets, rather than “bizliners.” O’Reilly said the number of these visiting has leveled out, though at the current rate, the airport is planning even more expansion for large entourages requiring more passenger-lounge space.
That 15 percent is equivalent to more than 3,000 movements and means the yearly total could top 30,000 and even approach 31,000–breaking the movement record that was set before the 2008 financial crisis. Last year the total reached 27,005, against a limit of 50,000 set by local government. In addition, the airport saw its “busiest day ever” earlier this year, with 188 movements (meaning the total of arrivals and departures).
O’Reilly believes there is evidence for a third factor pushing up the number of business jets visiting London: the Brexit effect, whereby various parties are keen to investigate the opportunities Brexit could present. “It’s very hard to say, but my opinion through speaking to industry colleagues since Brexit [is that] people using bizav are looking for opportunities out of change. We even saw an increase in movements straight after the announcement.”
TAG Farnborough is confident it is in a good business as “there will be no new airports,” said O’Reilly. Heathrow is planning a third runway, but even if it does happen, it will absorb mainly airline traffic.
Farnborough is meanwhile “settled” in terms of where its opening hours and movement levels are set, in agreement with Rushmoor Borough Council. The opening hours are “8 til 8 at weekends and on public holidays, and 7-to-10 on weekdays.” While Biggin Hill’s longer opening hours have stimulated growth at that airport, again among other factors, Farnborough doesn’t believe this has affected its own prospects.
He is preparing to welcome Gulfstream, the old black “A shed,” built in 1947, that used to house some of Gama Aviation’s activities (now relocated to Bournemouth) and another company is being demolished for groundworks in preparation for the new Gulfstream facility. O’Reilly said once the groundworks are completed, Gulfstream will manage the building construction itself. He estimates that will ultimately bring a further 3,000 maintenance-related movements to the airport, which has an aircraft mass limit of 80 tonnes. That means Boeing BBJ 737s and Airbus ACJ320 family aircraft are the largest it can take, despite the infrastructure being able to handle A380s (albeit well under maximum gross weight) during the biannual Farnborough International Airshow.
O’Reilly said that during his tenure as CEO, which started with an NBAA visit in 2006, Farnborough has become far more prominent as a business aviation destination.
NBAA is “an extremely important show for us,” said O’Reilly, who noted he has been to every edition since he took over at Farnborough. But it's not all about preaching to the long-range jet operators. “We get PC-12s too…and we’ll see how that market develops. We have space for everybody.”
On three final points, O’Reilly said, helicopter movements are increasing at Farnborough too, as they can wing passengers arriving on jets into London Battersea heliport in 20 minutes. “We get more than 1,000 helicopter movements a year, mostly interlining with jets,” he said.
Second, he noted the CAA had approved a tranche of controlled airspace surrounding Farnborough, which should mean more efficient movements beginning late in 2019.
Finally, the airport has now become carbon neutral based on the ACI (Airports Council International) scheme, joining only three other airports in the UK: East Midlands, Manchester, and London Gatwick.