Ever since TAG Aviation Holding acquired the freehold of Farnborough Airport in 2007, renaming it TAG Farnborough, the airport has been winning awards – not least topping AIN’s annual FBO Survey for 12 consecutive years having won again for 2019. Before that it had started with a 99-year lease and invested more than £200 million creating what is the most iconic airports in the world—and dedicated to business aviation only.
Brandon O’Reilly, who was appointed as chief executive in 2006, told AIN on March 1 that he had a “couple of updates” following the announcement that the airport recorded record movements in 2018, of 30,729–a year-on-year increase of 13.8 percent over 2017 and 8.2 percent up on Farnborough’s previous busiest year in 2007, just before the economic crash.
He said that January 2019 movements were 4.4% YOY up on 2018–“representing 90 additional movements. That’s the busiest January on record for us.”
“The other big news story,” said O’Reilly, “is that Gulfstream’s site has been prepared now—the old “A Shed” has gone, it was demolished on December 23, and we’ve been preparing for Gulfstream’s contractors to start. The official handover is at the end of March but we’re ahead of the game, so it may be earlier.”
He added that Gulfstream is hoping to complete the facility, which will become its main European MRO center, by the summer of 2020. “From an airport perspective it could generate up to 3,000 additional movements a year. The airport has already seen a major increase in transatlantic traffic, with flights to and from the U.S. up by 22.5 percent in 2018.
Farnborough also expects to collect approximately 50 percent of Northolt’s business when the West London airfield closes for runway work later this year—and there is plenty of capacity for further traffic growth, as the airport is permitted to grow movements to 50,000 per year.
Also on the MRO front, the airport’s sister company TAG Aviation in January announced it was selling its MRO activities to French aircraft manufacturer Dassault, including TAG Farnborough Maintenance Ltd. “With the Gulfstream move, it shows the manufacturers was to be very involved in after sales and maintenance support. It’s a powerful combination to have both [Gulfstream and Dassault] here and it's a strong message for the UK, Farnborough and the industry.”
Another major milestone is planned when Farnborough—subject to a legal challenge to the CAA decision from Lasham Gliding Society which will be heard June 5-6—implements controlled airspace for the first time, allowing for more seamless, structured airspace management, and faster climbs and descents to help minimize local noise. O’Reilly hopes the airspace change will be implemented in February 2020. “We are being responsible—it was from a request from Rushmoor Borough Council to create controlled airspace and standard routes.”
Last but not least, TAG Farnborough Airport is also continuing to push its green credentials further, having achieved carbon neutrality under ACI’s ACA program—continuing to add offsetting schemes, for example.
And of winning the AIN survey again, O’Reilly commented: “If that’s the case, it’s a vote for our employees, customers, Farnborough and the UK. We’re humbled and we never take it for granted.”