| Wycombe Air Park/Booker Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: none – ICAO: EGTB | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Owner | The Arora Family Trust | ||
| Operator | Airways Aero Association Ltd | ||
| Serves | High Wycombe and Marlow | ||
| Location | High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 520 ft / 158 m | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Website | |||
| Map | |||
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EGTB
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| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 06/24 | 2,411 | 735 | Asphalt |
| 06/24 | 2,001 | 610 | Grass |
| 17/35 | 2,280 | 695 | Grass |
| Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1] | |||
Wycombe Air Park/Booker Airport (ICAO: EGTB) is located in Booker, Buckinghamshire, 2.4 NM (4.4 km; 2.8 mi) south-west of High Wycombe, England. It was formerly the Royal Air Force base, RAF Booker.
Wycombe Air Park (Booker) Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P523) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Airways Aero Associations Limited).[2]
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The lease on the aerodrome is held by Airways Aero Associations, who run the Airways Flying Club from the airfield.[3] They provide Air Traffic Control, Firefighting and other services to all the park users. The shareholding of AAA Ltd was sold in 2007 to Arora Family Trust, of which Surinder Arora, a well known entrepreneur and property developer, and his family are beneficiaries.
Wycombe Air Park is also home to a number of tenant companies, including flight training organisations, engineers and approved medical examiners.
Flight training organisations: Booker Gliding Centre, Wycombe Air Centre, Light Sport Flying Club and School, Helicopter Services and Heli Air Ltd.[4]
Approved medical examiners: Dr Andy Tobias is the resident AME at WAP.
Engineering and avionics: Airways Aero Associations Engineering, Air Training Services, Wycombe Air Centre Engineering, Personal Plane Services, and Heli Air.
Since the sale of the lease of the aerodrome speculation has been rife as to the new owner's intention for the site along with those of the Wycombe District Council. The current lease arrangement, under which the Air Park pays a nominal £42,800 per annum rent to Wycombe District Council, expires in 2014. A feasibility study is underway to determine if the site will be suitable for the development of a sports stadium[5] to replace Adams Park, the home of Wycombe Wanderers and London Wasps. Steve Hayes, the owner of both clubs, has confirmed his plan for a 20,000 seat stadium on the site ready for the start of the 2013/14 season,[6] which suggests the air park may need to close shortly to allow building work to begin. Recent negotiations between Wycombe District Council and the leaseholders have inserted a 'break clause' into the lease to allow the Council to end the lease in 2012 if it wishes.
The options considered for the Air Park range from a small-scale development of a stadium complex to house Wasps and Wycombe Wanderers, to a larger-scale Sports Village concept. A modified Air Park is believed feasible alongside at least one of the options. Under the Sports Village concept it is probable that the Air Park would close completely and the site given over predominantly to sporting activities. For their part, the Air Park management and owners are pushing for a stadium development with a large residential 'enabling' scheme plus hotel and conference facilities, but without the broader sports village. Under this option the Air Park could increase helicopter and fixed wing training, extend the runway, and expand into business jet operations. To allow this, current thinking suggests that the long-established Booker Gliding Club may be ejected from the aerodrome, to allow the expanded commercial activity while not increasing the reported total of aircraft movements.
A consultation process on the stadium development ran from September to October 2010 and resulted in 8,376 responses. The consultation was not restricted to local residents and half of the replies came from outside the district. Wycombe District Council has claimed 70%+ support for a stadium development at Booker[7] but opposition groups claim the results are heavily distorted by non-representative voting patterns.[8] In particular, the results identified by the Council are sharply at odds with a private poll run by the local newspaper at the end of the consultation, which found an overwhelming majority opposed to a stadium development at Booker.[9]
The UK Department for Transport (DfT) has recently suggested that it is minded to specify the Air Park under Section 5 of the Civil Aviation Act.[10] This follows an application made to the Secretary of State for Transport in 2009.[11] Were the DfT to specify it, Wycombe Air Park would be the only airfield ever to receive a Section 5 order in the 28 years the Act has been in existence. If the Air Park is specified, the UK Civil Aviation Authority will play a more direct role in regulating the environmental impact of air traffic at Wycombe Air Park. The DfT's consideration of a Section 5 order is in response to continuing complaints about noise from the airfield, which operates around 90,000 aircraft movements each year. Complaints about flying from the Air Park continue to run at about 300 per quarter, according to data from the Air Park's Joint Consultative Committee, although the Air Park maintains that most are not valid. Wycombe District Council supported the request for the section 5 order.[12]
An earlier request for a section 5 order was made by Wycombe District Council in 1988, but was turned down in favour of an expert Inquiry to identify ways in which the Air Park could improve. The whole process including the decision not to specify and the subsequent Inquiry ran from 1988–1990, and resulted in the O'Connor report in 1991.
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