58 EMEA & Asia
FC REVIEW: AIRPORTS Bombardier and Embraer have long-established sales offices supporting their European customer base from the airport. Bombardier in particular opened its new regional support office (RSO) at this year’s Farnborough Airshow. With customer numbers influencing the decision, RSO manager, Marc Walker said, “We co-located with the sales team already there to work with engineers and pilots right up to visiting aircraft owners. Farnborough accounts for most of our customer movements and allows us to interact with the operators based here such as Vistajet, Acropolis Aviation and others; so the choice over Luton was clear.”
Echoing similar sentiments, TAG’s O’Reilly said, “We are operating at 2007 levels, but volumes this year are flat despite the good spike during the Olympics. The change in the mix of planes arriving has been notable with more of the larger ACJ and BBJ classes along with next large-size category in the form of Globals and larger Gulfstreams. But capacity is there when the recovery happens.”
The Farnborough Club. The close proximity to suppliers and customers has been beneficial for all. Extolling the camaraderie, Bombardier’s Walker said, “The community is a close one, especially with everyone helping each other out when issues arise.”
Aircraft Movements The recession continues to bite with charter operators at the airport soldiering through the slump. With its fleet of mobile cleaning vans dashing to the aprons and facilitating rapid turnarounds, aircraft detailing company, Avialogistics has seen volumes fall. Company general manager, Vas Karim explained: “The charter market has taken a hit but at the same time the size of plane we detail has increased.”
Farnborough is a self-contained entity, with customer service benchmarks very high. However the prestige of being located at the airport is something that all appreciate. Aware of the reputation, managing director of Jet Brokers Europe, Tim Barber, said ‘It really gives you a good feeling when you tell customers that your offices are at Farnborough. After all, the Bond movies were shot here!’
Farnborough is a self-contained entity, with customer service benchmarks being very high