Farnborough And "HEAVY IRON" JETS
 

Just curious.... .. .Does Farnborough currently handle a lot of the bigger corporate jets (e.g., BBJs, ACJs, GVs and Globals) flying into the London area?. .. .I've never been to Farnborough, but I understand TAG is attempting to convert it to the "premier" corporate jet airport in the UK/Europe. If you operate into or out of Farnborough, how often do you see the really big corporate jets like BBJs and ACJs? Are they pretty common there? If not, where would BBJs go if their passengers are traveling to London? Heathrow or Luton? . .. .Are Executive Jet/Netjets BBJs popular visitors there? I saw a beautiful Netjets BBJ with big winglets at BWI this weekend - nice takeoff performance.... .. .Cheers

The most common BBJ is the UAE's "Dubai 004" which has been going there for a few years. It is often based there for most of the summer.

The only Airbus CJ is the UAE's "Sharjah" aircraft - but not as common as the Dubai aircraft.

As for other BBJ's - there have been quite a few over the past 2 years. The vice chairman of GE uses FAB as its base when touring Europe.

TAG have been pushing for more usage of FAB for a while - but now they own the place and have invested heavily into it's future (2 new FULL ILS', new runway/app lighting and even a new tower is being built.) Add to that a new larger dispersal north side and a new terminal and hangars mean it will have great potential.

All it needs now is some controlled airspace around it and it will be a sure winner!! Yes I am biased!)

Heathrow? Now that would be nice!! Unfortuately, GA has been all but removed from LHR these days - the place is fairly congested and as a result the slots go to airliners first. Suppose you can't argue from a commercial pov, but it would be nice.... .. .Farnborough is a great place, and is a decent location for London. The only slight drawback is the lack of H24 availability. It's like everything though, no matter how good somewhere is, you always want more! The development is excellent, very modern - should rival most airports very quickly.. .. .Good to see airport development for a change!

Heathrow is still used for corporate jets. I was in the Esso station filling up last night and a Citationjet taxied past on the way down to 09R. Last week I saw a KingAir depart from there. Are they letting them back in again or only at quiet periods?

I was being a bit over the top really! Anyone can use Heathrow subject to having the required landing/take off slots. There is a criteria for the allocation of Ad-hoc slots and GA comes quite low down the list (still).

The only slight change is that post-11/9 the number of scheduled flights has decreased freeing up more slots for the ad-hoc pool, and as a result GA.

I'm sure come the summer it'll start to become less available - depends on the airlines.

The airfield is located someway from the centre of London, and the M3/A3 is by no means an easy motorway to use in peak times of traffic, so marketing Farnborough to a major London based business customer would be difficult. There is also the lack of public transport connection (although I am happy to be put right on this point since it has been some time since I last visited there)

One of it's main features is that it used to be a military base and has good security, so in the light of September 11th this would be a good selling point.

Only time will tell as to whether Farnborough makes it big in the GA field. There are lots of airports around London all competing for a very small amount of business and each one will have to go out of their way to get the business. I think it's the quality of the handling, the level of security and the out-of-hours service that will win at the end of the day, and Farnborough must be a major contender.

I wish them well (although working at Stansted not too much...!!!)

Best regards

Here is the proof!!

Finals for Runway 24 - New tower through right window

General Electric's BBJ

Dubai BBJ

Sharjah A319CJ

Some other pics.......

Cheers,

Alan

Had a look at the new Rwy layout at FAB other day.

There is also a "very" displaced thr at the 06 end (even though the total paved length was extended), presumably for the same reasons as mentioned on 24, as the 06 ILS looks like it's now installed.

ATIS says full length mandatory for all deps - watched the Club PA28 get airborne well before the thr on 06 the other day!

B-L, as a local PPL (who continues to love the service from FAB LARS), I have asked questions before re. whether it's likely a Class D might be put up around EGLF soon - any further news?

:cool: hey guys anyone know of any cabin crew positions going one male / one female at TAG or anything else at \farn

Would appreciate any replies, can anyone give any info on where to apply to TAG as well thanks a million.

GC and partner in crime:eek: :D

Luton is also starting to get it's act together in this area. There are regular visits from 727's. More recently an L1011 in Royal Jordanian colours but on the Saudi register (complete with ground to air missile protection on the rear end!) paid a couple of visits and of course Twinjet's A319CJ is based there. The State of Kuwait A310 also comes in 3 or 4 times a year.

The facilities are not as good as FAB's but this should be rectified with the development of a dedicated Executive Terminal due to be built later this year where the Cargo Terminal is currently located. With this, plus 24hr availability, it should prove very attractive for VIP's visiting London.

Wycombe.....

My spies tell me that it is still unlikely, despite there being a good case for some.

Full length departures have always been mandatory - but the Club PA28 was exempt - for noise abatement reasons.

Also in the banned list was single engined jet departures off 06 (07!) due to the town. Another throwback to its military days!

Thanks B-L,

I must say it's great to see the place starting to look so modern, except for that tower (that looks like a giant mobile phone mast!) in the middle of the airfield - presume it's the new radar tower??

Do sometimes miss all those "raspberry ripple" jets blasting about though (I used to live in Southwood and *liked* the noise, esp. when night flying was in progress!)

Wycombe...I don't think Farnborough will get any Class airspace due to it's proximity with LHR and LGW. Can you imagine the ATC workload if you are inbound from the South or North to FAB ?

j31fo...reference to the VIP Terminal being built at the old Cargo site...which GA based company are you refering to ? There are 2 !!

Best regards,

FAB Airspace
 

Keith....


I would have thought that for, FAB ATC anyway, the workload with respect to handling their airways inbounds/outbounds would be reduced, as they would be able to keep their arrivals/deps within CAS and not have the current problem of deconflicting them with VFR traffic in the open FIR, in an area which is full of GA fields and can be very busy.

Metro have their eye on the cargo ramp at LTN while Signature have planning permission for a new hangar in the NW corner that can take 5 X 737’s