Shoreham Handling Agent for 1.5 tonnes up?

[500 above]

The setup is not there at a lot of airports Peter for VIP, a lot of these handlers use the normal terminal and facilities. Thats not to say they dont charge the earth. Infact, it's becoming the norm now, with a few notable exceptions to give poor but expensive service. I can't see how we evade the charges, these thieving numpties have our hands tied via the mandatory handling for jets or a weight category. The bills just get bigger... And now there is the ETS to pay!

An example of airports/handlers who don't mandate VIP terminals etc.

Aberdeen (Signature) - a portacabin. Does the job fine.
Klagenfurt - still bloody expensive.
Gdansk (Executive Services) - use pax terminal.
Larnaka (Abelair) - have the choice, use one if you want to.
Pafos - Normal terminal. Nice, new and improving.
Rhodes (Euro Aviation) - use normal terminal. Can be slow like a lot of Greece.
Doha (Qatar Handling) - you have the choice of the new Rizon Jet VVIP terminal (nicest I've been too but very expensive) or the normal route through the pax terminal.
Zadar - very affordable and fast service. Normal building.
Alexandria (Tiger/Zas Aviation) - normal terminal with usual Egyptian delays whether VIP or not, it makes no difference.
Marsa Alam - same.
Haifa - self handle mostly.
Sde Dov - ditto.
Cannakale - normal terminal. No posh facilities. Fine by Turkish standards.
Istanbul (SAW) - normal terminal. Dirty, slow.
Shannon - normal terminal makes sense as VIP rooms are in it... Saves cost.
Ronaldsway - normal terminal.
Nordholtz/Cuxhaven - normal terminal.
Altenrhein - normal terminal, nearly big enough to call it that.
Amman ( Queen Alia) - normal terminal. VIP is available at cost though.
Constanta - normal terminal. Usual Romanian slow service.
Antwerp - normal terminal. No frills.
Le Castellet - normal building pretty much VIP anyway.
Simferopol - normal terminal. VIP available. v costly! Ukrainian usual slow...
Talin - normal terminal. Estonians are quite efficient.
Aalborg - use normal terminal.

The above don't mandate paying for VIP facilities. Why should Shoreham! You can't escape using handling in most cases now for bizjets, but abonanza for goodness sake...

For interests sake, my top three friendliest FBO/handlers are:

Beirut - executive aircraft services. In the VIP terminal.
KLM Rotterdam Jet Centre - fast usually. Easy to use. Expensive though!
Hamburg - Service People FBO. Friendly and efficient.

In my job, we don't begrudge paying. Just don't mandate fancy limos and VIP terminals.

Andy R - I bloody hope it's cheaper than Biggin... It's nowhere near to London comparitively. Don't compare the two for business aviation. The runway is far too short to attract any serious bizav traffic anyhow.

Tea, biscuits, meet and greet tarts and a pc to use... Not value in my view.

Nothing wrong with the cafe, free wifi. Saves you some bucks!

[EDFLY]

I think a handling service is a good idea but it should NOT be mandatory. Do not know what the airport manager is think by making it mandatory it will stop people coming to Shoreham.

[JW411]

I really don't have a dog in this fight but it would seem to me that the answer is for someone else at Shoreham to also set up a handling agency and compete with whoever happens to be in T3 this week.

In fact, it would be pretty good if at least three organisations offered a similar service.

I personally would suggest that MCA and/or Apollo made a similar bid.

[Andy_R]

Personally I do not see how a handling agent will attract more high net worth business/charter operators but the airfield management remain convinced that it will, thereby keeping costs down for everyone else. It is thought that the handling will only apply to a maximum of 5% of the movements, even in the future, so really not sure how the maths works.

[mad_jock]

I can see they have had a visit from one of the consultants.

Same sort that did the planning for Wick. Be prepared for more gems of wisdom that are utterly pointless in regards to safety but apparently are "industry standard" And other revenue generating bollocks.

[peterh337]

It would be a real shame to see such a nice airport go downhill, yet again.

Shoreham does need a more "classy" pilot lounge, serving better grade food, and perhaps with some planning facilities. There is free wifi but it is too weak outside the reception hall, and unusuable in most of the restaurant.

But it doesn't need "handling".

[silverknapper]

Aberdeen may not mandate a VIP lounge, but they do mandate handling which costs the same whether it's a portacabin or not. Indeed it's almost more insulting to pay the handling fee and have a crap facility.

It's a joke, and no matter how they look at it Shoreham will lose in the long term. Ill go elsewhere. Suddenly more expensive airports with ILS eyc are a lot more appealing.

[peterh337]

That's true if you are just training. But what if you want to visit the Brighton area? The nearest ILS is ~1hr (Biggin) and the others are > 2hrs, which makes flying pointless in most cases.

[mglepd]

I just can't see the business case for tripling the charge. Those of us not carrying passengers but dropping in for a cup of tea are going to go elsewhere.
Shoreham £ 120 versus Oxford at £ 20. Hmmm.
I'll be doing a survey on what it costs to land my old BE55 (for my on financial protection) and will publish my findings