 Having been run by the flight training school management (Oxford Aviation Training) for much of its history, since January 2003, the airport has been operated by a new team with a focus on improving amenities and services for the general aviation (GA) and business aviation (Biz Av) sectors of the market. This has been driven by a marked decrease in flying training movements (a take-off or landing) with the establishment of an overseas, 'fair weather' operational base in Arizona. The school continues to thrive at Oxford as the premier training facility in Europe and indeed is growing n terms of student numbers, but the use of several new, advanced simulators has reduced flight training hours in aircraft by over 20%. The IFR training remains centered at Oxford, whilst the VFR training is in the main undertaken overseas apart from limited private pilot's license training which tends to take place at the weekends.
Up until 2001, the airport was the fourth busiest in the UK with typically 150,000 movements (a landing or take-off) a year. Since then, we have seen a 60% decline overall, albeit that on some days the airfield remains busy with over 600 movements a day. Typically Oxford's traffic consists of 90% light GA (of which 30% is single pistons and 70% twin pistons), 9% helicopter flights and just 1% turbine business aviation (jets or turboprops).
It is perhaps worth highlighting that Oxford has in the recent past seen over 900 movements in just a 2 hour period for one Silverstone Grand Prix weekend, over 1,100 movements in one day and over 4,500 movements in a week. Even by international standards, that is an exceptional level of activity.
Accordingly, with the very significant drop in movements, Oxford has started a new phase in its history which is driving some new initiatives. These are focused mainly around the desire to encourage more turbine business aviation activity and also to stimulate greater use of the airfield by the recreational GA market. For instance, it is now cheaper to park a light aircraft at Oxford than it is to park your car each weekday at the local train station! The most significant of the changes has been the extension of the licensed length of the runway 2003 (now with the same landing distance as London City Airport) which now enables many more charter aircraft types to be able to land at Oxford than was previously possible. This has a direct benefit to the business community who use such services much more extensively now than the industry has seen for many years.
Many improvements have already been instigated over the last few years and continue today which include:
- 10% extension of the licensed length of the runway to 1319m
- Grooving of the main runway for better braking friction levels
- Extensive refurbishment of offices and hangars
- Re-establishment of a terminal building with new amenities:
- Visiting pilot's office & lounge
- PC, Fax, Photocopy services
- Wireless and broadband internet access
- Satellite TV / DVD / VHS
- VIP Lounge
- Crew kitchen
- New meeting rooms
- Crew rest rooms
- Security (NASP) screening facilities
- New runway lighting and revised PAPI (approach light) angles
- New taxiway surfaces and edge lighting
- Resurfaced apron areas
- Reduced all landing and parking fees to competitive levels
- Introduced half-price weekend rates for light GA aircraft
- Established larger on-site AFE pilot shop
- New restaurant, café, bar and mini-market retail shop established
- Oxford-managed charter fleet increased by 25%
- New aircraft sales and maintenance companies established
- Light Air-freight operations rejuvenated
- Acquisition of multi-type helicopter tow trolley
- Acquisition of Class 11 fire tender for increased RFFS capability
- Acquisition of other airport service vehicles
- Use of Perfo grass reinforcement tiles for improved parking areas
- Installation of cable/tie-down points
The airport will also benefit from changes locally including the evolution of the adjacent business and industrial parks, having three hire car companies now opposite our entrance with the new Oxford Motor Park and the proposed Kidlington rail station which would be less than a 10 minute walk away. A separate section herein explores some of the local and regional opportunities within our catchment area - Business Opportunities & Links.
For the next few years, there are a number of more significant projects in hand including improvements to runway navigational aids (the installation of an instrument landing system), general airport infrastructure and new facilities. Other than there being a considerable need for additional hangarage and hard parking for aircraft, changes in legislation are dictating a need to relocate key facilities such as the fuel farm, terminal amenities and rescue services. Health & safety, environmental and security considerations remain a key focus for the airport and much work in these areas has already been undertaken.
 Air services beyond the current charter and air-taxi services that exist today could entail limited scheduled shuttles between Oxford and key city destinations for which a considerable demand has been identified. Some such services could just be seasonal and would more than likely utilise light twin turbo-prop aircraft from 19 to 50 seats. The airfield has in fact a longer runway than some established UK regional airports with a total field length with overshoots of almost exactly one mile, so access is possible today with ATR42, ATR72, Dash 8 and BAe 146 types. Such aircraft have already used the airport today, albeit on a private basis for business use or indeed for engineering or avionics work.
On several occasions in the past, scheduled services were offered from Oxford to Jersey, the last time being the 1990s. Likewise there was an associated link with what is now East Midlands Airport. In the near future, it is anticipated that a shuttle will be established between Oxford and Cambridge for which a considerable demand amongst academic and business circles has been identified. With the pilot school flying activity having dominated the airspace around Oxford for several decades, such commercial opportunities were not actively explored in the past, but with the recent halving of their movements, there is now scope to provide some limited niche services of benefit to local region and businesses using these light turboprop types.
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