Outstanding networking opportunities, exhibitors from all over the world, and breathtaking air displays from both military and commercial aircrafts: the Farnborough Airshow has it all.
Held every other year at Farnborough Airport in Farnborough, England, the event is a significant opportunity for those involved in the airline industry to expand their horizons and witness the latest trends of the sector. This also means the chance to negotiate and order new aircraft to be delivered in the coming years.
Over time, visitors have witnessed history in the making, including the introduction of the Airbus A380 in 2006. As part of the latest airshow in 2018, Airbus and Boeing together registered more than $100 billion in sales at list prices, according to Reuters. This is not to mention the other 164 exhibitors registered, 70% of which were from outside the United Kingdom.
Trip Support Service for the Farnborough Airshow 2020
Such a number of opportunities brings a very high number of traffic to the airport before and after the days of the event. This significant increase in visitors requires a high-skilled trip support service for those who want to land at Farnborough during the airshow.
Thankfully, there are companies such as Flightworx that concentrate all aspects of flight planning in one place. From the early stages of the routing to the allocation of landing slots and, when needed, even manage post-flight accommodations and transfers with their Travelworx concierge service.
Farnborough Airport (FAB) is known all around the world due to its state-of-the-art fixed-based operations (FBO) services, winning, for 14 years in a row, the “Best European FBO” by 1260 subscribers of Professional Pilot Magazine. Since its sale to TAG Aviation in 1997, millions of pounds have been invested in infrastructure and overall operational facilities.
Increased Utilization Brings Increased Challenges
This does not mean, however, that it is easy to access the airport during the airshow. Given the arrival of dozens of aircraft for about one week as the event happens, the traffic numbers reach a peak on Farnborough’s single runway.
Although the NATS – the UK’s local air traffic control manager – tries to assure the smoothness of the operations, there may be some concerns with arrival and departure slots, as well as parking spots, which may be coordinated in advance to assure everything will go as planned.
Arriving the week before the event, the private passenger may find the exact same issues. This is because the week before the airshow actually starts is dedicated for flying display rehearsals, allowing NATS to validate the safety of every single participant.
Additionally, the week prior has the arrival of most aircrafts of the static display – more than 80, which also results in an even busier airport. This is exactly why planning the flight in advance is key for private aircrafts attending the show.
There are a number of challenges to landing at an airport in such a peak week. In this sense, counting on the expertise of companies like Flightworx is an absolute must.
Not only are they able to simplify all of the hard work necessary to organize a flight under disrupted conditions, they also do so in the most cost-effective way possible, allowing you to make the most of your money and time visiting the airshow.