3 May 2013 – Bloomberg Business Week
London Oxford Airport has more than doubled the number of departing business flights since 2006, making it the U.K.’s fifth-largest hub for corporate travelers, ahead of Stansted and London City Airport.
Daily business aviation departures rose to an average of 8.1 in 2012, compared with 3.2 in 2006, the airport said in a statement today, citing figures from Eurocontrol. More than 5,900 corporate flights flew to and from the airport last year, compared with 24,674 at London’s Luton airport, the top U.K. airport for business flights.
London Oxford has sought to attract larger business jets by adding ground-handling equipment, boosting its fire and rescue capabilities and increasing the licensed take-off distances of the runway. The addition of two Global Express jets by Hangar 8 Plc (HGR8), formerly based at the U.K.’s second-largest corporate hub, Farnborough, has added cities like Chicago and Mumbai to its charter destinations.
“These aircraft bring the wider world to Oxford’s front door,” James Dillon-Godfray, the airport’s development director, said in the statement.
Located about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) north of Oxford and about 100 kilometers from central London, the airport was rebranded as London Oxford Airport in 2009. Biggin Hill and Northolt were third and fourth in 2012 in corporate flights, according to Eurocontrol’s OneSky Database.