12 January 2009 – ‘Jets.ru’ (Russian website)

Oxford Airport, UK, is rounding off a successful half year since the opening of its new oxfordjet business aviation facility on July 17th with a debut appearance at this month’s NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference at Long Beach, California during January 13-16. Head of Customer Services David Surley and Customer Service Representative Diane Pashley will be highlighting the benefits of the UK’s newest business aviation centre at Stand No 832.

Oxford Airport has seen a steady increase in business aviation movements since the opening of its new GBP 2.5 million facility, highlighted in December with the custom of a Prime Minister (St Vincent & The Grenadines); a President (Slovenia); The Queen and the popular girl band Girls Aloud, who choose Oxford Airport to film part of their Christmas Show.

The oxfordjet facilities have been very well received by corporate travellers. The new terminal provides triple the space of the previous general aviation centre, with a fresh, modern design providing state-of-the-art facilities for passengers and crews alike, including VIP and VVIP zones, assuring maximum privacy.

Increased opening hours
Concurrent with the inauguration of the new terminal, Oxford Airport also increased its opening hours and now offers longer standard opening hours than any other general or business aviation airport in south-east UK from 06:30 to 22:30 daily, including weekends. The airport’s fire and rescue service has also been upgraded to Cat 4 RFFS enabling charter operation of aircraft types ranging from the Citation Sovereign or Hawker 4000, through all the Dassault Falcon and Bombardier Challenger Series. Higher RFFS cover will be available on demand during 2009 for Legacys, Gulfstreams and Globals.

Expansion in hangar activity
Hand-in-hand with developments on the passenger side, Oxford Airport has also expanded its hangar facilities. The construction of a new 21,000 sq ft hangar, Hangar 11, is on schedule for completion this spring. Hangar 11 will be big enough to house an Airbus A318 or Embraer Lineage business jet.

Oxford Airport’s 20,000 sq ft Hangar 1 was selected last year by PremiAir as the new home for its fixed wing maintenance operation. The GBP 1 million investment in the refurbishment included new apron areas and a total re-fit including bespoke electrics, lighting, heating and modern insulation. The facility now includes new workshops, customer reception areas, office space and dedicated car parking. PremiAir’s new hangar has been approved for EASA Part 145 for base maintenance and is a new centre of excellence for Beechcraft MRO.

Other developments in the pipeline for 2009 include exploring the feasibility of a General Aviation Centre with T-hangars to accommodate general aviation piston-engined aircraft and the establishment of new office block and/or a second floor addition to the oxfordjet terminal to accommodate new businesses keen to relocate to Oxford.

FlairJet establishes base at Oxford Airport
Start-up private jet charter operator FlairJet plans to take off from Oxford Airport from May 2009, with an initial two Embraer Phenom 100 entry level jets. Further options are available for 2010 delivery. Headed by Monarch Airlines’ Captain David Fletcher, Flairjet is planning a route network of charter services with the four-seat jets, covering mainland Europe, plus UK domestic cities.

Central London just 22-minutes away by helicopter shuttle
All private jet passengers flying in and out of Oxford Airport now have access to a seamless transfer facility provided by Oxford Air Services (OAS). oxfordjet is marketing OAS executive helicopter services as part of its customer services package with all bookings and enquiries processed by the oxfordjet Customer Services Team, located at the new terminal.

Strong Team
Mike Sparrow was appointed as Oxford’s Airport Manager in November. Mike reports directly to Steve Jones, the airport’s Managing Director and takes responsibility for maintaining the airport’s safe operating environments and CAA aerodrome licence. In April 2008 David Surley joined the Oxford Airport team as Head of Customer Services. David is responsible for customer liaison at oxfordjet and leads a team of four Customer Service Representatives.

Ideal location
Oxford Airport is now a very attractive alternative to other London airports – in particular Northolt, Biggin Hill, Farnborough and London City, which are becoming increasingly prohibitive and costly. Oxford is ideally situated within close proximity of the M40, A34, A40 and A44 road networks, providing excellent access from the most lucrative and affluent catchment areas in the UK. Connectivity to Oxford is superb and the airport also benefits from being just outside the congested London TMA (terminal movement area).

As a quiet, easy-access and unconstrained choice, Oxford is just an hour’s drive from London’s west end, which together with its lower costs, make Oxford Airport a convenient and very viable alternative to the established London airports.