London Oxford Airport is experiencing its busiest period over the past 15 years, with a surge in movements there driven by business aircraft leisure travel, corporate charters, and pilot training. James Dillon-Godfray, London Oxford’s head of business development, described the airport’s position yesterday at a media event as “completely mad.”
“In August, we recorded 7,180 movements—our highest monthly activity level [since 2006], while fuel uplifts in July were the largest they have ever been,” he said.
The “devastation” to the UK airline sector has been partly responsible for the surge, Dillon-Godfray noted, and it helped to position London Oxford as the second-busiest airport in the UK in March 2021, after London Heathrow. Before the Covid-19 outbreak, the airport—around 60 miles from the UK capital—was ranked as the 15th busiest in the country. “On the business aviation front, we are 30 percent busier than in the same period in 2019,” said Dillon-Godfray.
London Oxford surpassed its total movements for 2020 by mid-September and is heading for a new record of more than 7,500 takeoffs and landings for the month—almost 50 percent more than in September 2019.