Archive for the ‘Cambridge airport’ CategoryExecuJet Europe has been awarded the tender to manage Cambridge Airport’s FBO business. Effective 1 January 2012, ExecuJet Europe will take over the management of the former Marshall Business Aviation Fixed Based Operation (FBO). Cambridge Airport will be ExecuJet’s ninth European FBO and its first full service FBO in the UK. ExecuJet obtained a UK Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) more than four years ago and currently manages over 10 aircraft based in the UK, with a total of 50 throughout Europe. Business aviation at Cambridge Airport has grown significantly over the last year with movements year on year up by 15% and fuel sales up by 37%. ExecuJet’s arrival will bring both a strong brand and extensive worldwide network to the airport, and airport management will be able to call on its immense experience next summer as Cambridge Airport operates 24/7 during the 2012 Olympics. Cambridge Airport is reporting a significant growth in business since the beginning of 2011 when it implemented its new commercial strategy. The new dedicated airport management team, led by Airport Director Archie Garden, has grown its business aviation movements year on year by 15%, fuel sales are up by 37% and it has seen a jump in airport parking fee revenue of 90%. Instrument approach training flights have also grown – now currently showing a 5% rise year on year. Currently operators and private owners are driving the new business movements and many charters are originating in France and Germany. A growth in Air Ambulance flights with patients heading to renowned local hospitals, Addenbrookes which recently opened a new trauma unit, and Papworth has also been seen. It is anticipated that within the first 18 months of operation the Airport will have added another 100 jobs to the area through the addition of companies like the Pilot Training Company and other various aviation brokers and managed aircraft companies that are in the pipeline to move to Cambridge.
Consultant Martin Hill brings 30 years’ experience as an air traffic controller and supervisor at the London Air Traffic Control centre to Gama. He is now in situ at the company’s Farnborough Airport HQ and is advising Gama’s operations and charter teams as they communicate to clients about their air travel to London coinciding with next year’s big event. Gama’s Director of Client Relations Trevor Jones was participating as a panellist at BGAD 2011’s Practicalities of the Olympics Panel at Cambridge Airport on Tuesday, 20th September. “We are advising our customers and charter brokers to book their slots early in order to avoid disappointment. For international clients coming to London between 21 July and 15 August we urge them to contact us as soon as possible so we can make the slot applications accordingly. This is because there will be capacity constraints in the airspace over the London area, affecting a total of 40 airports in the South of the UK.” Slots will be required for all flights arriving or departing the London area during the period from 21st July to 15th August 2012, inclusive – this covers the Olympic Games only, there are no extra slot restrictions for the Paralympic Games. Flights will also be subjected to security screening, even at small airports/airfields. Martin Hill explains: “Slots will be issued on a first come, first served basis and where the requested slot time is not available, the closest match will be offered as an alternative. Airports will be charging a non-refundable fee for the booking of the slots, which will be added to the cost of the flight, and in some cases, requiring payment of landing and handling fees in advance.” Gama is advising its clients and charter brokers that once a slot is issued, changing the time of the flight will invalidate that original slot. There will be no guarantee that a slot will be available for the revised time, on the day concerned. If the slot is not adhered to the flight will not be able to depart until a new slot time is granted, which could be many hours away. The slot system is now operational to take bookings at Farnborough Airport, and will become active at other London area airports over the coming months. The following airports, all subject to slot co-ordination, have confirmed their available capacity and effective September 5th it is possible to make a reservation at those highlighted in bold: Slot co-ordinated airports during the period of the Olympics
The following airports are yet to confirm their capacity so slot bookings are not yet available:
* slot reservations available 30th November 2011 ** slot reservations available 1st February 2012 *** slot reservations available as soon as capacity determined Cambridge Airport announced it will be one of just five regional airports in the UK capable of accepting 24/7 business and passenger services during the 2012 Olympics period. Olympic slot allocations will operate between the 21 July 2012 and 15 August 2012 during which time Cambridge Airport will be able to accommodate over 200 movements per day. As one of only five civilian airports with a 24/7 capability, Cambridge Airport has the capacity to accept aircraft throughout the day and permit the airport to take up to 30% of regional slot controlled airport traffic during the early morning and late evenings. Cambridge already boasts an established 24/7 operating capability with no noise restrictions and this status was recognised by Airport Co-ordination Limited (ACL), which manages the slot allocation system. ACL has created a booking system, which has now gone live, introduced to ensure UK airport capacity meets the expected increase in demand. Cambridge is offering charter operators, government fleets and private owners the opportunity to pre-purchase guaranteed parking slots with a one time fee that also includes all landing and take off costs. Richard Knight, Airport Manager at Cambridge said, “The 24/7 capacity, combined with our special events offering, gives our customers exceptional flexibility, particularly as we have a generous allocation of early morning and late evening slots. With hotels fully booked and events running into the evening, a day trip to the Olympics becomes a viable option”. Cambridge operates up to Fire Category 7 and has full ATC cover, with ILS and soon to be published GPS approaches, and can handle intercontinental business jets and passenger aircraft up to Boeing 757 and Airbus 320 size. Cambridge expects the majority of its flights to be derived from private charter and business aviation who will maximise the services provided at the new stylish new FBO facility. The seventh annual Business and General Aviation Day, BGAD11 to be held on 20th September, 2011, hosted by Cambridge Airport and held in conjunction with European Business Air News, is shaping up to be the most successful yet. With three weeks to go BGAD11 has attracted close to 50 exhibitors, including OEMs Embraer Aircraft and Cessna, which is sponsoring the media centre. Embraer is bringing its new full fly-by-wire Legacy 500 simulator, currently on its world tour. To date 11 business aircraft and three helicopters have booked to display in the static park. Embraer and FlairJet will each exhibit a Phenom 300 light jet and Cessna will show a Citation CJ3. Cambridge Airport-based Marshall Executive Aviation will show its Bombardier Challenger 300, Cessna Citation Bravo and the Cessna Citation XLS; Norwich-based SaxonAir Charter will display the Hawker 400XP and Action Aviation, new tenant company at Cambridge Airport, will debut the transatlantic-capable high speed SJ30 light jet. Smaller business aircraft showing for the first time at BGAD include Diamond Executive Aviation’s DA42 Twin Star and the DA42 MPP multi-mission surveillance aircraft plus Cambridge Aeroclub’s Extra200 training/sports aerobatic aircraft. Helicopters on display include a Eurocopter EC155, EC135 and EC120. Among the new exhibitors this year are charter company Centreline Air Charter and Gloucestershire Airport, together with an increased number of European exhibitors including Lancelot, the Spanish based Flight Services provider, and Avinode the b2b online market place. Another unique attraction and new to BGAD this year will be charter broker PrivateFly’s ‘booth’ – a novel vintage Routemaster bus. London-based in-flight catering specialist Alison Price On Air will give delegates a demonstration of its unique fine dining system. Its revolutionary in-flight catering system is tailored specifically for the aviation industry and will appeal to passengers, FBOs and anybody involved in influencing in-flight catering service selection. Additional attractions this year will feature a display of top quality cars, courtesy of Marshall Motor Group, and First Class Cars, specialists in chauffeur-driven car services for business aviation clients. BGAD11’s exhibition and static display will be complemented by two ‘free to attend’ seminars. ‘The Practicalities of the Olympics’ an inter-active Question Time style panel discussion will run at 11 am until 12 noon. Moderated by Aviation International News’ Charles Alcock, the panel line up has been finalised with the addition of the UK CAA’s Jonathan Nicholson. Avinode’s Magnus Henriksson will explore the events and trends that have shaped the European charter market this year with its ‘An Industry in Motion: exploring the European Charter market – circa 2011 at 2pm. Cambridge Airport has announced that tour operator Newmarket Holidays will be operating an inaugural charter flight from Cambridge to Verona, Italy on 16 September 2012. The initial flight will support a week long itinerary that is anticipated to be the first of a regular set of charters arranged by the specialist tour operator. Passengers on the Verona flight are being offered the opportunity to select from a choice of six varied week-long trips in the breathtaking central and northern regions of Italy. This is the first time that Newmarket Holidays, which celebrates 30 years of business this year, has chartered an aircraft to fly from Cambridge Airport. Swedish-based Tor Air, which specializes in wet leasing and charter, will be servicing the route with a Boeing 737. The aircraft has capacity for 148 passengers in a standard class configuration. Archie Garden, Director at Cambridge Airport said, “This flight marks a significant step forward in our plans to increase the number of regional charter and schedule flights available from the airport. With unrestricted slots and no congestion aircraft are assured of on-time departures and arrivals. Passengers enjoy quick transits through the terminal both on arrival and departure, there is easy parking and we can offer fast check-in facilities which makes us very attractive for the smaller regional carriers. For those living locally this significantly reduces their journey time when compared to travelling to one of the London airports. We anticipate this will the first of a number of similar specialist charters and look forward to welcoming more to the airport.” Newmarket Holidays’ regional charter director, Alison Keeble, commented, “I’m especially pleased that following the great successes we’ve enjoyed over many years from other regional airports, we have been able to introduce this special departure from Cambridge. We selected Cambridge for this particular departure because we anticipate demand from the east of England catchment area will be quite high for this type of trip. We look forward to this being the start of a long and fruitful partnership with the airport” Cambridge Airport, the East of England aviation hub, is marking a successful first six months following its implementation of a new commercial strategy. With a new dedicated airport management team in place, the airport has developed its business aviation movements year on year by 18%, fuel sales are up by 41% and it has seen a jump in parking fee revenue of 50%. Instrument approach training flights have also grown – now currently showing a 5% rise year on year. The airport has seen its biggest growth area from new brokers, operators and private owners with a significant number of charters originating in France and Germany. “Newmarket Race Course continues to bring us business and we are observing significant spikes in executive jet and charter helicopter flights on race days,” says Archie Garden, Airport Director. Increased business movements have been complemented by a growth in Air Ambulance flights with patients heading to renowned local hospitals Addenbrookes, which recently opened a new trauma unit, and Papworth. “We have been promoting our specific benefits which include 24/7 capability with no slot restrictions; proximity to the City of London as well as the local academic, industrial and scientific communities of Cambridge; and uncongested airspace making us an attractive option for those wanting to avoid busy London skies,” explains Garden. The airport will be aiming to implement a number of significant initiatives before the end of the year. A franchised FBO will be confirmed in the 4th quarter; the GPS approach system will be going live in September which will consolidate the training offering; and having taken responsibility for Cambridge Aeroclub the airport is concertedly developing a GA centred community. “The airline sector is also within our sights as we continue to establish relationships with commercial airlines to develop city-hopper services between European cities,” says Garden. “The Practicalities of the Olympics’ for business aviation will be debated at the forthcoming Business Aviation and General Aviation Day (BGAD) to be held at Cambridge Airport on Tuesday, 20th September. An industry panel, together with moderator Charles Alcock, International Editor of Aviation International News, will discuss some crucial issues facing operators, charter providers, FBOs and the 30-plus UK airports that have been identified to handle business and general aviation flights for this important summer event. Practicalities to be addressed will include when to start security screening of new employees, the buying in of fuel, provision for aircraft parking and securing ground transportation. Along with, which airports are going to be declared 24/7 during the period, and how and when operators and charter brokers should go about booking their slots and parking stands at airports? Industry players have been voicing their concern for some time about the strict restrictions and proposed airspace changes being placed on London airspace to the extent that they are starting to pose the question – has this great opportunity already been missed – or can it be recovered with persuasion to central government? One concession has been the recent move to reduce the timeframe on full airspace restrictions. It is now 14 July to 15 August 2012. Separate, geographically smaller, airspace restrictions will cover the London 2012 Paralympic Games from 16 August 2012 to 12 September 2012. Charles Alcock will also pose the question is this the time for business operators to put aside the fact they are competitors and work together for the collective good of Team Great Britain and to showcase business aviation’s winning edge? During the Olympics all take off and departure slots are to be allocated and slots at peak times will be in heavy demand. On top of their existing day to day activity, the 14 principal business airports in the UK are expected to handle more than 110,000 movements during the 31-day peak period, according to the UK DfT. The Olympics panel will comprise: Trevor Jones, Director Client Relations of business aviation operator Gama Aviation, one of the largest charter companies with a worldwide fleet of 80 aircraft, headquartered at Farnborough, UK; David Macdonald, Director – Private Jets, Air Partner plc, one of the world’s longest established and largest charter providers; Archie Garden will represent Cambridge Airport, which, with its long runway and its proximity to the east of London is well positioned to accept Olympics traffic; James Cole, Director International of Airport Co-ordination Ltd (ACL) the leaders in slot co-ordination which is working closely with DfT and its consultant Atkins on accommodating Olympics traffic. They will be joined by a senior representative from ExecuJet, which runs eight FBOs in Europe, South Africa and Australasia. They will share their experience handling the Davos World Economic Forums each year and the recent 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Cambridge Airport has appointed Sheila Kissane as Airport Infrastructure Director with immediate effect. Sheila, will work closely with the airport’s CEO Robert Marshall, and Airport Director Archie Garden to support the on-going commercial strategy of increasing business, regional and general aviation activity at the airfield. This is a new role at the airport and has been introduced to maximise airport resources and bring together the existing infrastructure to better serve the development of the business. On a day to day basis Sheila will be responsible for running feasibility studies for planned infrastructure developments such as modifications to the 60’s style terminal buildings; generating proposals to seek funding within the business for specific projects such as a new GA terminal; and upgrading the environmental focus through implementing a number of projects including the installation of new fuel tanker storage areas. Sheila brings a wealth of experience to Cambridge Airport and joins Cambridge following a consultancy role at Gatwick Airport where she was Engineering, Procurement and Contracts Manager responsible for upgrading expired assets including internal signage, water tanks, air conditioning units and project managing the creation of a potential £20 million tender aimed to improve run-off capacity of the runways. Prior to this Sheila worked at Stansted Airport project managing capital investment plans for Airside and Landside developments. This followed a two year stint working at Dublin Airport as a senior project manager on a variety of major programmes including the delivery of the Terminal Two Pier E Apron. Take Flight Aviation Owner, Mike Roberts successfully accomplished a momentous challenge this week after landing his single engine Piper PA-28 light aircraft at 68 airfields across the country in aid of Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. Mike took off from Wellesbourne Airfield at sunrise, 04:45, on 21 June touching down at Cambridge Airport for just a few minutes at 09.25 for a quick fuel stop before taking flight once again. “We were pleased to be able to support this ambitious project and get fuel on board quickly for him in his flight against time,” said Archie Garden Cambridge Airport Director. The challenge aims to raise in excess of £2000 for Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance, the helicopter emergency medical service serving the counties of Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes. “The air ambulance is aiming to be the first in the country to operate 24 hours a day so it seemed like the perfect aviation related cause” said Mike Take Flight Aviation Limited based at Wellesbourne Mountford Airfield in Warwickshire is a private flying club. |
