Wentworth Lifestyle talks to Simon Geere, CEO of Farnborough Airport about the options and advantages that his facility offers.

The flying experience from large airports like Heathrow is often marred by long check-in times, baggage check-ins, security queues, passport-control , the hassle of crowds of people trapsing through duty-free and aircraft boarding procedures. Imagine that you could arrive at an airport where there is free parking, a 30 minute check-in time and a short walk to your waiting aircraft – welcome to Farnborough Airport.

Strictly speaking, Farnborough Airport is classified as a business airport which means that it primarily caters for business travellers and VIPs using private jets, corporate aircraft or chartered flights rather than airlines. Such airports are typically used by business executives, high net-worth individuals or government officials. By definition, the aircraft operated out of such airports are smaller than those seen at major airline hubs and they typically fly point-to-point to convenient locations, rather than to busy international airports. Unlike some airports, Farnborough has no presence in the general aviation sector and therefore does not cater for hobbyists who fly small aircraft as a pleasure activity.

There is a tendency for the national press to see business airports as playgrounds for the rich and famous, but Geere maintains that Farnborough provides a service to UK PLC so that business deals can be done in a timely and efficient manner. He states that 80 per cent of traffic is somehow associated with business, the remainder being for leisure activities, mostly in the summer months. Holiday makers will be allowed to take their pets with them if they so wish and the airport has suitable facilities to process and screen pet passports.

As for the normal destinations of the aircraft flown out of Farnborough, Geere advises that of 800 international destinations, 90 per cent are to European countries with the remainder flying long-haul to the Middle-East, Asia and North America. The most important criteria from a passenger’s standpoint are connectivity, assurance and service.

Connectivity is all about getting to your as close as possible to your desired end-destination without having to pass through aviation hubs. Assurance is about being pretty much guaranteed to arrive at and return from your destination when you wish to. Service is about short and pleasurable stays in lounges before departure, pre-selected food and beverage on board the aircraft and a concierge meeting at the destination taking you to your pre-booked hotel or business meeting.

Obviously, such arrangements get you to your desired location when you want to arrive and reduce the total time taken to do so, more often than not reducing the duration of a hotel stay, if one is required. Indeed it permits some business passengers to return to their airport of origin on the day that they left if they so choose, promoting maximum productivity. There is no need to worry about airline schedules and connections and ground transportation is kept to a minimum. Such factors are important not just for business people but also for sports celebrities such as golfers and football teams who have to work to very tight schedules to ensure that they have both professional and private lives.

Aircraft  and movements

In 2024, light jets (such as the Cessna Citation CJ series and Embraer Phenom 100) accounted for 7,633 movements; mid-sized jets (such as the Learjet 45/75) accounted for 6,533 movements; heavy jets (such as the Bombardier Global Express, Dassault Falcon and Gulfstream)  accounted for 12, 575 movements; and, Biz-liners (such as the Airbus ACJ and the Boeing BBJ) accounted for 328 movements. Turboprops added another 1,602 movements to these totals.

The most popular ‘city’ pairings are Farnborough – Nice; Farnborough – Le Bourget; and, Farnborough – Geneva. Zurich, Dublin, Milan Linate, Biggin Hill, Jersey and Palma de Mallorca also rank prominently.

Jet Charter operators

In order to book a flight out of Farnborough it will be necessary to contact a jet charter broker or operator. When booking a flight, they will ask for a destination, date and time, passenger count including baggage, desired aircraft type and details of the flight services required (catering, wifi, ground transportation requirements, pets and so on). Quotes can be requested and aircraft options reviewed. Paramount Business Jets, Starflight Aviation, Global Charter, Av&Jet and JetApp are amongst those who may be contacted for quotations.

Costs relative to airline travel will be important for most although there will be a very small non-business minority to whom it is almost irrelevant – the extremely wealthy. As Geere mentions, it is usually a matter of calculating the equivalent first or business class fare and adding it to the other peripheral costs of travel, including additional hotel costs, if they apply. Typically, it will be at least double or triple the cost of using a scheduled airline. For some it may be a ‘one-off experience’ and for others it may become addictive. Some families may fly one-way only to a wedding, say, and use scheduled flights for their return.

By way of example, take a family of six flying with two dogs to Nice. Business class fares would typically be £500 each, adding up to £3,000. Then the cost of kennelling the dogs would be £70 per day, so for two animals that would £2,000 for two weeks. The cost of chartering a business jet could be in the region of £10,000 and therefore the cost is approximately double. But there are no hassles, no ungodly flight times, no waiting for your hotel rooms to be come available, no worries about your pets’ welfare and so on. What is more, you are travelling in a luxurious Biz-Jet with lots of space, rather than being packed-in like sardines. Starts to sound tempting doesn’t it?

Fixed-Base Operators (FBOs) and airport facilities

FBOs offer provide a full suite of services for business jets—including fuelling, hangaring, crew/passenger support, maintenance, charter, and aircraft management.

Farnborough Airport FBO  is operated by the airport itself and offers premium passenger and crew facilities including crew amenities. Indeed, it is consistently ranked number one in the Europe/Middle-East /Africa region. It offers crews access to lounges, snooze rooms, a gym, catering, a concierge and access to the Aviator Hotel, located on the other side of the airport. It also provides  ramp services such as fuelling, pushback, water/toilet servicing and sustainable fuel options. It also has five large hangars which are used primarily for overnight parking and limited line maintenance.

The new Dolmus III sustainable hangar was completed in June 2024. It is a four-bay 175,000 square foot hangar costing £55 million and was built to house next-generation jets and eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-off and Landing) aircraft. The latter are designed to reduce noise and relieve the environmental impact of passenger aircraft – they  use multiple rotors or ducted fans. They are designed to operate as air taxis and short-range city transport.

Flexjet is building Europe’s first dedicated private terminal at Farnborough airport which is scheduled to open in 2026. It is a stand-alone facility separate from the main terminal building which will feature separate departure and arrivals lounges. It will also offer concierge services a formal dining/bar area and meeting rooms. It will also be an operations hub for Flexjet with a tactical control centre, operations personnel and a training academy.

Another company, Netjets, offers fractional ownership of aircraft which is akin to having a time-share on aircraft usage. Typically, shared ownership can be anything between one-sixteenth and one-half share of the aircraft, providing between 50 and 400 flight hours per annum. Alternatively, for less frequent flyers, a Jet Card programme can be purchased which provides 25 flight-hours of business travel. It also offers on-demand charter options in a similar way to the Jet Charter operators.

Many other facilities are located at Farnborough Airport, including maintenance (MRO) bases and the Air Accident Investigation Branch but these are beyond the scope of this article.

Limitations and growth

Farnborough airport is currently limited to operating between 7.00am and 10.00pm at night on weekdays and between 8.00am and 8.00pm on weekends and bank holidays. This compares with much more lenient rules at London Heathrow where flying is permitted between 7.00am and 11.00pm and quotas are applied to qualifying aircraft at night, with arrivals being permitted after 4.30am.

Geere mentions that Farnborough Airport is currently limited to 50,000 flight per annum, inclusive of 8,900 weekend movements. A proposal to increase this quota to 70,000 inclusive of 18,900 weekend movements has been tabled. Aircraft weight limitations are also proposed to increase from 50-80 tonnes to 55-80 tonnes, enabling heavier aircraft to use the airport, especially on weekends and bank holidays.

At this stage these proposals are in the hands of local councils, particularly the local Rushmoor Borough Council. It sees Farnborough Airport as an important local employer supplying 3,000 jobs and is more sympathetic to growth possibilities than neighbouring councils such as Waverley District Council. Of course, noise and air pollution are the major concerns and a NIMBY approach to such matters is not necessarily constructive in the longer-term. Ultimately, it comes down to politics not just at the local level but at the national level, where the airport’s value will be assessed against the economic needs of UK PLC.

For more information contact Farnborough Airport or Wentworth Lifestyle's Front Desk.