London Oxford breaks records for movements

                     
London Oxford Airport broke its movements record over the British Grand Prix weekend. The airport saw one of its busiest weekends so far this year as the Formula One British Grand Prix was held at Silverstone.

The airport welcomed well over 300 movements, including 50 business jet flights on the Sunday, its highest peak so far this year.  During the weekend it sold nearly 100,000 litres of fuel.  The majority of movements this year were larger cabin sized jets too – Challengers, Gulfstreams and Global Express aircraft.

Some 20 chartered helicopters were busy making the eight minute flight to the track. Sister airport, The Barclays London Heliport was busy too with Formula One movements, especially on the Sunday when it accepted 50 rotations. It also accepted several extra movements for the Glastonbury Festival.

The airport is situated at the very heart of what is a huge high tech industry for the UK as the nearest airport to the Silverstone race track. Many Formula One teams are based in Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey.

“Throughout the Grand Prix season, our airport remains a key hub for those local teams to get teams and the drivers around the world in what in one of the most travel-intense and time-critical industries there is,” said London Oxford Airport business development director James Dillon Godfray.  “Our airport remains the core hub for the motorsport industry which has always relied upon private, business aviation to achieve the near-impossible travel demands it generates.”

The airport not only serves the Grand Prix teams but many of the motor industry’s big names are in Oxford’s catchment area. Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover are at Gaydon, just up the M40 motorway; BMW Mini is in Oxford and key high-tech players like Prodrive are located at Banbury. Oxford Brookes University also has its unique auto sport academy.