We opened Farnborough for business at around the same time as EBAN’s conception in 1989, when if you operated a Hawker 125 around Europe you were fairly adventurous. Now the question is pretty

much: ‘Which way round the world do the passengers wish to go, how many of them and in how

much comfort?”

Personally, having started in the business with the first ever ‘air taxi AOC’ – and when a Piper Aztec was top of the range – the development has been even more dramatic.

It is difficult to single out individual reasons for this rapid development; growth in world trade, in particular with the Far East and the former Eastern Bloc countries, must be a major factor but so must the technical development of the aircraft being operated.

We seemed to be working on our Aztecs after every flight – modern business jets go hundreds of hours with only minor servicing, are obviously far faster with extensive range and better equipped than most airliners.

These factors, combined with Man’s incessant need to develop, have combined in this growth

and will be the significant factor in the continued development of the industry. Who will have

the first Corporate Airbus 380?

Will they be Western, Eastern Bloc or Far Eastern? Who knows, but the industry will certainly continue to develop in order to provide the service required.

Len Rayment, Director of FBO operations, TAG Farnborough Airport