New fire tender at London Oxford Airport

London Oxford
Airport has recently taken delivery of a brand
new state-of-the-art fire tender, costing over £500,000.  The tender has
been purchased from Spanish company, the ITURRI Group of Seville and is now being introduced into
service.

It was seen for the first time by the general public
at the Oxford
‘Fly-to-the-Past’ Air Show on 21 August, which attracted a 10,000-strong crowd.
 Airport industry professionals saw the tender earlier in August when UK airport and aircraft handling business
representatives attended a stakeholder briefing on preparing for the Olympics,
hosted at London Oxford Airport.
 The airport will play a significant role hosting overseas business jets
during the Games next year, having been identified as one of the London region airports to
take additional Olympics traffic.

The addition of the new fire tender is part of London Oxford
Airport’s commitment to
upgrade all areas of the airport’s operations with the latest generation
systems and equipment.   “Our goal is to introduce up to three new
engines to our fleet within the next five years as part of our ongoing priority
to improve Oxford
Airport’s safety
services.  We are very proud to be the first airport in the UK to showcase
ITURRI’s expertise,” said Mike Sparrow, airport manager.  Ground service
equipment has also been upgraded during the summer with a new Lektro tug
suitable for 55-tonne jets.

“In an airport incident situation you need a tender
that is fast, quick and powerful as the window for preventing serious damage or
for saving lives is very small,” commented Mark Phipps chief fire officer at Oxford.