Oxford Airport

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Oxford Airport Oxford/Kidlington Airport
IATA: OXF - ICAO: EGTK
Summary
Airport type		Private
Operator		Oxford Aviation Services Ltd.
Serves		Oxford
Elevation AMSL		270 ft (82 m)
Coordinates		51°50′13″N, 001°19′12″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
01/19	4,327	1,319	Asphalt
03/21	2,953	900	Grass
09/27	2,887	880	Grass
11/29	2,493	760	Asphalt

Oxford Airport (IATA: OXF, ICAO: EGTK), also known as Oxford (Kidlington) Airport is a small private airport located near Kidlington in Oxfordshire. It specializes in general and business aviation and is home to the largest European air training school. It is the only ICAO-listed civilian airport in Oxfordshire.

The airport was originally established in 1935 by Oxford City Council to act as municipal airport, but following RAF use (as RAF Kidlington) during World War II, it became established as a centre for aviation education, charter and maintenance facilities. In 1981, the airport freehold was sold by the council and is now owned by BBA Group plc. It has a 1,552 metre main runway.

In 1941, pioneer aviatrix Amy Johnson crashed in the Thames estuary while on a flight en-route to Oxford Airport from Blackpool.

A short lived commercial operation was based at the airport during early 2006. SkyCommuter operated a twice daily scheduled service between Oxford and Cambridge using an 8-seat Piper Chieftain. The same route had been proposed a year earlier by a possible new airline, Alpha One Airways, then being promoted by local teenage businessman Martin Halstead. With hindsight, the publicity Alpha One Airways secured through the good offices of Oxford Airport may be seen as part of the elaborate media hoax that beguiled the UK media into believing that Alpha One Airways was a real airline. It turned out not to be!

Sadly, the airline that eventually operated the route, SkyCommuter, failed after just six weeks in business. Failure to generate business between the two university cities, coupled with ethical concerns over the environmental impact of such short-hop flights and fierce price competition by alternative land-based transport combined to thwart the plans of SkyCommuter.