7 November 2007
The company which runs Wycombe Air Park, also known as Booker or Marlow, has been sold. The company which had operated it – Airways Aero Associations Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Airways – has sold its share capital to The Arora Family Trust, of which Surinder Arora and his family are beneficiaries. British Airways Flying Club (whose name will remain unchanged) has been based at the airfield for many years – it is to celebrate its 60th birthday next year.
Surinder Arora is pivotal in the sale. He learned to fly with British Airways Flying Club, logging over 800 hours before changing direction into property development. His interests include several sporting venues and the Arora Group of hotels. But he has remained a fan of aviation, both general and commercial, and has retained a soft spot for Wycombe.
Tim Orchard, BA Flying Club’s managing director, is enthusiastic about the sale. “Arora will embrace the general aviation scene at Booker with a number of exciting expansion plans. The airfield’s current refurbishment programme will continue,” he says.
“The list of recently completed major projects (a new control tower, a new runway surface, new runway lighting and replacement hangars) will be used as a spring board for future development. Several exciting new ventures are being discussed, each of which will bring new life and more growth to the airfield. These will be revealed over the coming months as discussions progress.”
As required by legal protocol, the current directors of AAA have resigned (except for Tim Orchard) and a new board has been appointed.
Orchard is also keen to emphasise that all current staff, equipment, tenants (17 businesses are based there) and relationships at the airfield will continue in their present form: “It’s ‘business as usual’ but with a new lease of life, exciting new goals and new enthusiasm. We now have the ability to invest in a great future for BAFC, for Wycombe Air Park and for general aviation.”
Don’t forget that Wycombe is one of <b><i>FLYER</i></b>’s free landing fees for this month (November 2007) – see our <a href=’http://www.flyer.co.uk/freefees.php’ target=’_blank’>Free Landing Fees page</a> for details.
