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Plans are afoot to expand the facilities at Biggin Hill Airport with the creation of hundreds of jobs.  The investment, from Middle Eastern firm Rizon, is expected to include a 6,500 sq metre hangar, a passenger processing facility and maintenance facilities.  This is expected to create an initial 90 jobs with double that to follow over the next few years.  There are also plans to build an extension to the apron a brand new fire station and another state of the art hangar.

On top of that, £8 million is expected to be spent building a 150 room hotel at the airport which will offer another 30 permanent jobs.

Biggin Hill Airport employed over 1,200 people before the downturn and that number is now closer to 800 as business across the minor London airports fell by around 30 per cent.  The major employer at the airport is still Bernie Ecclestone with his F1 operation but the recent failure of his racing television channel saw hundreds of jobs lost.

Rizon’s plans for the new terminal are to increase traffic arriving from the Middle East.  The facilities will be able to receive people arriving in private aircraft and will contain a prayer room to accommodate their needs.  The airport hopes to increase traffic over the coming years, especially during the Olympic Games in 2012 when a large increase in London tourism is expected.  The airport hopes to overcome resident’s noise fears by demonstrating the quietness of the new generation of private jets.