£20 million pledge from Cambridge Airport

news
0
SHARE:

Cambridge Airport pledge to use funds to create a centre of aerospace excellence

Cambridge AirportCambridge Airport has pledged a £20 million investment programme by
the airport’s owners the Marshall Group to open up the green field site to the
south of the runway. The plans include expansion at the airport and major
infrastructure upgrades and development of the airport into a business hub. The
airport will be attending EBACE in Geneva.
The development will begin in July.

The investment will focus on
a new taxiway, which will provide a key access route to the south of the
runway.  Spend will also centre on a major rehabilitation of the runway
which will enhance its performance and maintain the airport’s critical asset
for a further 12 years. The project will also deliver significant environmental
benefits through the implementation of an improved drainage system.

The airport has developed
over the past twelve months with new regional airline services as well as new
aviation companies basing themselves at the airport. After a competitive tender
process, Cambridge
Airport selected ExecuJet
Europe to run its FBO (formerly Marshall Business Aviation) and the Swiss headquartered
company moved in January 2012.  It subsequently announced it was moving
its flight operations to the UK
from Zurich and will have some 50 plus personnel
based at Cambridge
by year end.  Other tenant companies taking up residency since EBACE 2011
include business aircraft sales distributors Action Aviation and the Pilot Training
College, PTC. 

“All our buildings are
currently full but we’d like to entice new tenants to the airport which will
support the on-going development of Cambridge
Airport as a leading
centre of excellence for aviation. We have the land available to the south side
of the airport and this is driving the next phase of our strategy to develop new
buildings in the area,” said airport director Archie Garden. He
is heading up the expansion drive, together with infrastructure director Sheila
Kissane, who joined from Gatwick
Airport where she was
engineering, procurement and contracts manager, last July.

“We are
inviting synergistic businesses and aviation companies to come and talk with us
if they are looking for a new UK
base where we can offer a range of opportunities.  Tenants will be offered
a range of property development options including self-build, build and buy
back or lease of properties, built by Marshall Aerospace.  A vibrant
business park, a hotel for crew, operator bases, this is the type of project
we’re could be achieved,” Garden added.

Target tenants are companies
who can offer complementary maintenance or technical capability to the Marshall
Group  “We have prime space too for a showroom for business jets and we
would like to further develop our pilot training facilities, building on what
the Pilot Training Cambridge (PTC) has started to successfully establish at
Cambridge with its B737 simulator,” added Garden.

Cambridge Airport is one of five regional airports in the UK capable of
accepting business and passenger services with a 24/7 slot allocation during
the 2012 Olympics period. The airport, which has 24 hour security patrols, has
no runway restrictions as it holds a Public Use licence. It is also an excellent alternative destination for
London-based traffic, especially for travellers to and from the US as the airport location lies directly on the
flight path that avoids London’s
busy airspace.

SHARE: