Walney Airfield on the edge of England’s Lake District - a former Royal Air Force base during the Second World War - has become home to another King Air B200 aircraft.

BAe Systems Submarines took delivery of its second B200 from Gama Aviation in February and it has been in operation since March 8.

Privately-operated by the company’s business division, the B200 shuttles BAe, Royal Air Force and Ministry of Defence staff between sites in Barrow-in-Furness; Filton, near Bristol; and Farnborough.

The aeroplane accommodates a maximum of eight passengers. Unlike BAe’s other B200, which has leather vip-style seating, this latest addition has been stripped of all its home comforts, including the toilets, bar and kitchen area. As Walney has a short field – the runway is only about 1,000m long – BAe needed to minimise the aircraft’s weight and the conversion achieved this.

Although Peter Spofforth, BAe’s head of flying and one of the aircraft’s pilots, described the aeroplane’s eight-seat commuter fit as ‘thin and reedy’, he insisted it was ‘comfortable enough’ as most flights rarely last longer than 45 minutes.

As well as adapting the interior, the aircraft also has wilderness tyres, which are larger and longer-lasting, fitted on to standard wheels. The company chose the B200 because it is powerful and performs well on short journeys. It also boasts an excellent dispatch rate, so few flights are missed due to technical difficulties. With the airfield situated in the Lake District, Spofforth said that ancillary factors, such as the weather, were more likely to cause problems. He joked: “Being so close to the Lake District, we’re in a very attractive location where you can see it.”

Both aircraft are expected to notch up about 1,600 hours flight time per year, Spofforth said.

Depending on the company’s success running two aeroplanes, he added that BAe was considering updating the older of the two aircraft with a new model, as it had accrued over 13,000 flying hours, which could lead to more down time.