Story ID: 
PremiAir Moves in at London Biggin Hill
By: Charles Alcock
Caption: PremiAir is expanding its fixed-wing activities, by establishing a new charter and management operation at London Biggin Hill Airport together with an addi
Word Count: 335
PremiAir is expanding its fixed-wing activities, by establishing a new charter and management operation at London Biggin Hill Airport together with an additional maintenance facility. Its sister company von Essen Aviation last month purchased an undisclosed number of Bombardier Learjet 45s while PremiAir took over the lease on a hangar, workshop and office complex from Gold Group International and acquired specialist workshop equipment, tooling and aircraft spares previously owned by Air Partner Private Jets.  
PremiAir expects to add more Learjet 45s and other larger fixed-wing aircraft to its fleet under management contracts beginning late this month. Its new Biggin Hill operation will employ 50 people, and includes an established EASA-approved Learjet maintenance facility.
The move follows PremiAir’s decision to develop its fixed-wing activities significantly. The company, which is also active in executive helicopter charter and management, fixed- and rotary-wing maintenance, aircraft sales and police air support, will now have a total of six bases in the UK. They are located at Blackbushe, Oxford, the London Heliport, Farnborough and Denham. PremiAir is part of the privately owned von Essen Group and a sister company of von Essen Hotels, the fast expanding luxury hotel collection owned by entrepreneur Andrew Davis.  
PremiAir also intends to base some of its executive helicopter fleet at Biggin Hill, which is located about 12 miles southeast of London’s financial district. This will allow the company to offer 10-minute shuttle flights to the London Heliport, another key aviation asset owned by von Essen and operated and managed by PremiAir. 
The Gold Group-owned Learjet 45s and the hangar lease at Biggin Hill were formerly part of charter brokering group Air Partner, which had bought the Gold Air operation in 2006 with a view to building its own charter and management business. In this transaction Gold Group retained ownership of the aircraft and hangar, so the aircraft and building lease were returned to Gold Group when Air Partner opted to close this part of its business.