Bicester ; a blow or a blip as GA have to move out

[David Thompson]

When I visited last October the Bicester GA community were in the southern of four hangars , car boot sales were next to it and the hangar north from the control tower was used for vehicle storage and presumably a good income generator and I didn't see into the most northerly of the four hangars . Perhaps the resident aircraft can be accommodated in one of the other hangars , I'm sure the locals will know more ?

Story in Flyer ; https://flyer.co.uk/bicester-aerodro...aft-by-summer/ .

[pasta]

I suspect the idea is to claim to be supporting aviation with statements like "We are pleased to confirm that aviation continues at Bicester Motion" whilst also making it sufficiently inconvenient that people move elsewhere. Somewhere down the line they'll claim that, despite making great efforts to support and encourage aviation, the airfield has been underutilised and landing fees don't cover the costs of mowing the grass and running an airfield in general. They've "tried everything" and "have no choice" but to stop operating it as an airfield because it's "not economically viable", "underused" and "clearly isn't wanted/needed by the GA community". Now they're sitting on a "derelict" airfield, aka brownfield site. Guess what though: It has great rail and motorway connections, and people are crying out for more housing...

It's been the playbook from Day 1: Go through the motions of supporting aviation whilst creating just enough friction under the covers to encourage people to move elsewhere.

[chevvron]

If OC Airfield at Halton got his finger out he could easily make a mint from the aircraft being displaced from Bicester; it's not too far away either.
Last I heard Halton was closing in 2027 but whether that's just the camp area a mile away from the airfield or the whole package I don't know; it would make a great GA destination especially if it was separated from the camp and its a nice big airfield, 02/20 is 1161m with steel rod re-inforcement under the surface but 07/25 might need to be re-aligned to placate the locals.

[Zyriantdtx]

I fly out of Halton and frankly the amount of hoops to jump through just to store your aircraft there is enough of a pain in the backside, let alone all of the red tape surrounding actually flying your plane from Halton...

I regularly fly out of Bicester (primarily to avoid said red tape), and the loss of that facility is really a shame however I'm surprised it's taken them as long as it has to do it.

Fortunately, the gliding (soaring?) club will be permitted to stay, but I think this is due to the class of people that are members there fit their target market.