TAG continues to invest in Farnborough Airport

TAG has completed three new hangars and extra aircraft parking spaces at Farnborough Airport costing £30 million. It is now working on a £5 million ground support equipment store as the final part of its £96 million development of the UK’s only dedicated business jet airport.

The airport now has twice as much hangar space as before. It has also been given permission to increase the number of flights from 28,000 to 50,000 by 2019.

“We want to be the airport that says ‘yes’,” Brandon O’Reilly, CEO of Farnborough Airport  told Corporate Jet Investor. “Fortunately we never quite got to the stage of saying ‘no’ to customers but this last project means we now have capacity to grow. So we can say: yes we have slots, yes we have hangar space and yes we have office space.”

O’Reilly says that all building work will be completed by March 2012 and will help them manage demand for the Farnborough International Airshow, the London Olympics and Paralympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Several US operators have already booked landing slots – which are being restricted by the UK Department of Transport – for the London Olympic Games.

“From the operator’s perspective there is nothing in Europe to compare with Farnborough,” said Marwin Khalek, CEO of Gama Aviation, which is based at the airport. “Farnborough has everything we have been crying out for so we had to put our money where our mouth is and support the airport.”

TAG acquired a lease on the airport in 2003 from the UK Ministry of Defence for £3 million, having been selected as the preferred bidder in 1999. In 2007 it bought the freehold for a further £1 million. TAG Aviation is the majority owner of the airport along with five private individuals. The airport is profitable even though traffic has not yet recovered to 2007 levels.

Farnborough Airport was the site of the first powered flight in the UK when Commander Samuel Cody flew in 1908. It has been a dedicated airport since then.