Has this been resolved??
In a single word 'No'. The argument rumbles on albeit at a lower volume than a few years ago. The local council still maintain that the 'lease' under which the airport is operated excludes scheduled services, the airport operators view is the opposite. It is a fact of history that the operator of the airport prior to 1994 did have limited scheduled service flights but the council says this was not transferred to the current operators rights.
Bromley council say they welcome the growth of the airport but only whilst continuing to protect the local environment which is why they frequently take an opposing standpoint in any development plan. Despite airport advice to the contrary their planning committee continue to approve the building of new residential properties under the runway approaches, and when given a choice of two sites to build a major hospital they chose the one 2.5 mile final for the main runway!
Within the last few days they have turned down an airport planning application for a hotel on the airport despite their own chief planner recommending the project.
Biggin Hill continues to attract all types of aircraft operation allowed within the terms of their lease. Business traffic continues to grow and the arrival of Jet Aviation a few years ago gave a boost to this side of the operation.
For information the limitations placed in the airport lease do not mention aircraft size, only noise(basically Chapter 3 aircraft only) so we can accept BBJ's A319CJ and all compliant Gulfstream, Bombardier, Embraer etc types in any numbers providing we do not exceed the maximum movement figure of 125,000 per annum. It appears that if the people inside those aircraft have bought their tickets they cannot land at Biggin Hill, if however it is a whole aircraft charter by a company then there is no restriction.
Not being able to accept scheduled flights is an unwanted restriction to business at a time when government policy is to increase runway capacity in southeast England. It is not preventing us from running a successful business and we welcome new customers and existing friends alike.