Centre for private jets at Southend wants to grow from 4 to 20 business jets per day
Date added: 1 October, 2013
Southend Airport is hoping to increase the numbers of private jets it handles, and increase the number from some 3 – 4 per day at present, to more like 20 per day. Biggin Hill is its main local rival for business jets. In 2012, Biggin Hill dealt with 5,335 during the year, while Southend had 1,163. Stobart Air’s executive handling facility at London Southend Airport celebrated its first anniversary this July. In comparison, in 2012 London City airport had 264 business flights (the rest are commercial), Luton had 15,055 and Farnborough had 21,986 – so way ahead of the others. Southend claims that although it is further outside London than Biggin Hill, passengers arriving at Southend can travel into the City in little more than hour, are that they are more reasonably priced than some of their competitors. The airport says one major advantage of their executive handling facility is that it is open 24 hours a day with onsite Customs and Immigration services also available permanently. ie. night flight noise for Southend and Rochford residents nearby.
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Jet centre at London Southend Airport wants to take on Biggin Hill in second year
Posted by: Alex Andrews
September 30, 2013 (Corporate Jet Investor)
After celebrating its first birthday, the executive handling facility at London Southend Airport is ready to handle in excess of 20 business aircraft movements per day.
The London South Airport executive handling area features conference rooms and a pilot’s rest zone.
Stobart Air’s executive handling facility at London Southend Airport celebrated its first anniversary this July and is viewing London Biggin Hill Airport as its “main short-term competitor” as it moves into its second year.
Hannah Lo Bao, executive handling manager, joined the airport’s business aviation terminal in May 2013, after leaving NetJets in Lisbon.
While showing Corporate Jet Investor around the Southend facility in July, she said the airport was handling three or four business jets per day, but wanted to bring the total up to 20 movements in the near future. This would see the airport surpass the likes of London City Airport and Northolt, but fall just short of Biggin Hill.
Although further outside of London than Biggin Hill, passengers arriving at Southend can travel into the City in little more than hour, with Lo Bao claiming: “We are in fact a lot closer than other London airports and are [more] reasonably priced than some of our competitors.”
Stobart Group has invested over £100 million in the airport since acquiring it in 2008. Recent developments have included a new 100 metre air traffic control tower, an onsite four-star hotel, which is regularly used by business jet flight crews, and a £500,000 executive FBO, which although spacious, is deliberately not as luxurious as rival FBOs. [An FBOis a fixed-base operator – a commercial business granted the right by an airport to operate on the airport and provide services]. In contrast to Rizon Jet’s facility at Biggin Hill, which features a self-watering ‘living wall,’ or London City Airport, which unveiled a refurbished private jet centre this summer that has reduced waiting time to 90 seconds, Alastair Welch, managing director of London Southend Airport, said the airport was careful not to fall into the trap of funding a million pound development that contradicts the fast and fuss-free nature of business aviation.
One major advantage of the Southend’s executive handling facility is that it is open 24 hours a day with onsite Customs and Immigration services also available permanently.
As another incentive, Stobart Exective Handling is currently offering free landing fees for business aircraft landing between 7am-9pm until 31 October 2013.
http://www.corporatejetinvestor.com/articles/london-southend-airport-jet-centre-biggin-hill-second-year-628/
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2012 CAA figures for Aircraft movements are at
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data/2012Annual/Table_03_1_Aircraft_Movements_2012.pdf
These do not include Farnborough, for which the figures can be found at https://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?page_id=5463
There were 21,986 business jet movements at Farnborough in 2012.
http://www.rushmoor.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=9185&p=0
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Southend had:
2009 1,244 business flights
2010 1,022 business flights
2011 953 business flights
2012 1,163 business flights
Annual CAA statistics, annual figures – Table 3.1
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At Biggin Hill airport
Business Aviation: Number of business flights (= private jets):
CAA statistics, annual figures – Table 3.1
2007 6,080 (out of a total of 69,244 aircraft movements)
2008 5,459
2009 4,134 (out of a total of 58,279 movements)
2010 4,176 (out of a total of 49,830 movements)
2011 5,083 (out of a total of 47,354 movements)
2012 5,335 (out of a total of 44,264 aircraft movements)
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Earlier:
Private jet business travel. Who uses it and why?
12.5.2012n a long article on who is using private business travel, and why, ABTN gives a lot of information on how the industry works. Private flying has fallen significantly since 2008 and the financial crisis. The banking sector used to use more business jets when they launched new IPOs (initial public offerings) when executives wanted to make many presentations in different places, the same day. They also say companies want the private space on the plane to continue their discussions, as well as the very fast transfer from car to plane, and plane to car, with the minimum of hassle. Rock bands etc, now make a higher proportion of their money from tours, so they like using private jets for painless travel. And the remote locations where some natural resources and minerals are found are more quickly accessed by private flights to small airports, rather than large planes to main airports. And more ….
https://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=1848
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Private jets carry 2.7 passengers on average – Farnborough
16th March 2009Private jet passengers at Farnborough Airport cause more damage to the environment
than users of any form of transport except space travel, according to green campaigners. The claim comes after the airport’s bosses revealed that each aircraft using the airport has, on average, just two or three passengers on board. Brandon O’Reilly, the chief executive of TAG Farnborough Airport, the company that owns and operates the airfield, said that on a fairly typical day last week there were just 2.7 passengers per flight, adding that the actual average figure could be even lower.
TAG’s revelation has caused outrage among environmental groups. Hugh Sheppard,
of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) said the figures had
revealed the “gross inefficiency” of private jets.
more ………… https://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=2972
Posted: Tuesday, October 1st, 2013. Filed in General News, News about Airports, Recent News.
