Business demands its own landing space

Date: 19/09/1996

By Tim Jones

EUROPE'S politicians would do well to remember that tiny executive jets can yield as much cash to a region as a scheduled airliner bursting with holiday-makers, points out the chief executive of the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA).

“The real problem for us is that the business aircraft does not bring the revenue to airports that an airliner can,” says Fernand François, whose association represents 100 business aviation companies.

“The 400 people on board a Boeing 747 coming back from their holidays will spend all their money in the tax-free shops and will bring in a lot of income.

“On the other hand, if you have four executives in an aircraft, the time of the occupancy of the runway is the same as for a Boeing 747, but these passengers will go directly to the business aviation terminal where they will not buy anything because their limousine is waiting there for them,” he says.

“Since more than 50&percent; of the airport revenue comes from non-aviation activities, this is not good business for the airports, although those four businessmen are bringing wealth and commercial opportunities to the region.”

This is the foundation of the business airlines' problems in Europe. They come way down the scale of priorities, both of the Commission and the airports, behind scheduled airline traffic and charters.

It was for this very reason that Dutch electronics group Philips - a big user of corporate aircraft - felt the need to form the EBAA back in 1975.

Since then, Philips Aviation has been joined by all the major business operators - such as IBM Euroflight Operations and Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation - to present their case to the Commission.

“What we are trying to do is keep access to airports and airspace,” explains François. “For that, we need a general recognition that business aviation is not a luxury toy but a business tool.”

The biggest problem for the business users is finding landing and take-off slots at Europe's most congested airports, such as London Heathrow, Frankfurt and Zürich.

“At a congested airport, we do not get slots like the airlines but have opportunity slots allowing us to take advantage of the flexibility of the business aircraft. This means that if an airliner is a few minutes late, the airport controller can accept the arrival of an executive jet,” says François.

But this means that the needs of business operators tend to be forgotten by regulators since they are more concerned with scheduled flights.

“We want to point out the advantage of dealing with business aviation operators when demand exceeds supply,” he says.

“Allocation of opportunity slots to business aviation takes advantage of the dynamics of airport operations and does not deny airlines access to slots, since they are unable to respond to such slots in the required time-scale. It also adds income for the airport that would otherwise be lost.”

The EBAA encourages its members to use alternative, less congested airports if they possibly can rather than Heathrow. “However, we believe that access to congested airports must be kept for business aviation because the business traveller sometimes need connections.”

Heathrow is more convenient for London's commercial centre than Gatwick or Stansted. As for London City Airport, François points out that this has demanding standards for the aircraft using it.

In contrast, no airport in the US - however crowded - excludes business travellers. Even though New York City has its own business airport at Terterboro, JFK does not turn anybody away.

“In France, we are well served with Paris Le Bourget, Lyon Bron and Cannes and yet business airlines are not banned from Roissy, Nice or Lyon Satolas.” On the other hand, Frankfurt and Zürich make life difficult.

For all these reasons, the EBAA is following the current review of the 1993 Slots Regulation closely and hopes that airports' slot coordinators will be mandated to offer ad hoc slots to 'business aviation' rather than 'general aviation', as it stands now.

“We have shown that, even at take-off, it is easier for a business jet to take off just behind an airliner than to wait one minute. It is less dangerous. It is like the difference between a bus and a Ferrari, which can overtake a bus. The business jet can take off while the airliner is still on the runway.”