ROUTES EUROPE: The Varsity Airport Race - Part One: Cambridge Airport

In the first half of this year the historical university cities of Oxford and Cambridge saw the appointment of new directors to oversee development of their regional airports. The HUB Daily spoke to both Chris Orphanou and Archie Garden to discover their plans. Today, we feature Cambridge Airport and will tomorrow look in more detail at London Oxford Airport.

Cambridge Airport is privately owned by the Marshall Group, a 100 year-old Group of Companies, which is owned and managed by the Marshall Family. It primarily targets the east of England market with a strong focus on Cambridge and its business, academic and industrial communities with an estimated 700,000 people living within the direct catchment area and another 800,000 living within an hour’s drive of the airport.

Interview with Archie Garden, Airport Director, Cambridge Airport…

Q) What are your immediate plans for developing the airport?
A) Our immediate plans are all about placing Cambridge Airport on the map and attracting business aviation - especially for our valued North American clients. We don't need to do any infrastructural enhancements - we have a great Fixed Based Operator (FBO); no slot or hours restrictions; full radar cover and full fire cover up to category 7 if required. We need to make sure people understand that Cambridge is a truly viable destination which avoids the busy London TMA (no holds - direct routing off airways when requested) and just an hour by road to the east London business district of Canary Wharf. On the scheduled side, we have a terminal building - which will require some minor remodelling, which we will carry out when our route profile is better understood and we understand where our key clients will be coming from. Our main investment however is the management information - we have a team of people dedicated to truly understanding the market so that we get the right carrier on the right route at the right times of the year.

Q) What are the main scheduled markets for possible growth?
A) The most likely routes are looking like Dublin, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. Scandinavian and German destinations also feature on our radar but as yet are not defined. In order to establish this we’ve looked at where people are regularly flying to and which destinations are lacking in flight options.

Q) Can you detail more information on the airport catchment and your target markets?
A) Cambridge is home to a large number of high-tech businesses connected with biotechnology, electronics and software. Many of these successful companies want to locate in Cambridge due to the strong links with the University of Cambridge and the Cambridge University Hospital. We have been speaking with these businesses to understand their requirements and have received many positive responses to travelling from Cambridge Airport. Indeed, a recent poll conducted independently on the airport’s behalf on public opinion cited that 82 per cent of respondents would like Cambridge Airport to operate flights. Of the 18 per cent that were not interested more than three quarters of these did not live in the surrounding area. The socio-economic status of these residents is significantly higher than the national average and hence we are also targeting the premium leisure market. The significant business travel in and out of the region and the high levels of disposable income support why there were nearly 2.6 million passengers in and out of our catchment area in 2009.

Q) Which area of the business - legacy, low-cost - best meets your target audience?
A) We are anticipating that our audience will reflect the area in which we’re based. Cambridge has an active business and scientific commercial community who will take advantage of better links to the rest of Europe’s business cities so we’ll aim to provide services that cater to their specific requirements. The academic links with Europe are also important along with the leisure market. It is expected that our clients will be predominantly business led, and leisure will be defined by the higher end of the market not looking for a no – frills experience.

Q) Are there any operational restrictions that limit aircraft capacity?
A) The length of the runway is the key factor dictating what we can offer. The runway length indicates the A320/B737 will be the main target aircraft. However, initial operations are more likely to make use of 50-seat commuter aircraft.

Q) What does the airport offer that other London airports cannot?
A) The airport overall offers a great customer experience that you won’t receive at the larger national airports. From landing to the customer terminal is a five minute walk, and then a further five minutes to the customer car park. We’re also looking at innovative charging which is based on risk/reward sharing with our airline partners – this aims to encourage all parties concerned to generate businesss.

Q) What is the biggest challenge impacting your development?
A) We have to make airlines understand the benefits of Cambridge and the unique nature of the catchment area. We are serving a very established travelling community who travel regularly and on average go away three times a year. At the moment they must drive to London Stansted or further afield, we can reduce their travelling time significantly and we just have to make airlines understand the benefit of this. The customer experience will also be a winner with airline passengers and the regional airlines have to understand this too.

Q) What is the biggest opportunity to develop?
A) Our current thinking is that business routes to Amsterdam and Dublin offer huge potential thanks to their onward inter-lining opportunities

Q) The Olympics in 2012 will bring opportunities to the UK market. What role do you intend to play in supporting incoming traffic to the country?
A) We have indicated that we will accept an additional 100 aircraft - we want to maintain our reputation for quality service - so will target the upper end charter providers; diplomatic flights; US originated business aviation. Being outside of the restricted area gives us significant flexibility. At that point we may also have some regional flights also using the airport and with our proximity, just about an hour, to the venue we are well positioned for visitors to the games.

Q) Are there any other areas of particular interest to the airport?
A) Along with the development of scheduled airlines we also have a number of areas of interest for the airport. We’re very close to Newmarket and are regularly used for horse transportation. The airport has a variety of buildings and we are looking to attract Avionics companies; other operators and manufacturers looking for quality delivery destinations. We also provide resources to Air Traffic Control and Fire Service training clients for other airports and are looking to develop this business too.