London: Closed At Night This Summer

Key Points

There are no night slots available for bizav flights at EGGW/Luton and EGSS/Stansted this summer.
That means the only London option for late flights will be EGMC/Southend, as all the other London area airports close at night.

The British Business General Aviation Association (BBGA) recently reported that EGGW/Luton and EGSS/Stansted will have no ad-hoc slots available at night from June 1 to Sep 30, in order to accommodate late airline arrivals.

In recent years, these were the airports you would head to if landing at night, but with them no longer available, here’s a look at some of the other options to consider.

All times shown below are local time!

EGLL/Heathrow & EGKK/Gatwick

Slots for bizav flights are almost never issued at night, as there is a noise quota system in place between 2300-0700. There might be a few daytime slots available – best bet is to contact a local handler and they will try to sort you out. There’s only one FBO at these airports, both Signature: lhr@signatureflight.co.uk and lgw@signatureflight.co.uk

EGSS/Stansted & EGGW/Luton

No night slots available between 2300-0600 from June 1 to Sep 30. A few different FBOs to choose from:

EGSS/Stansted
Inflite Jet Centre: operations@inflite.co.uk
Universal: uk@universalaviation.aero
Harrods: stnops@harrodsaviation.com (Harrods operate two FBOs here: The Knightsbridge and The Brompton)

EGGW/Luton
Signature: ltn@signatureflight.co.uk
Harrods: ltnops@harrodsaviation.com

EGLC/London City

Open: 0630-2130 weekdays, 0630-1230 Sat and 1230-2130 Sun. There are slots available between these times. jetcentre@londoncityairport.com are who you need to speak to for handling and slot assistance there.

EGTK/London Oxford

Open: 0630-2230 and up to 2359 on request, seven days a week.

The thing you probably want to know about Oxford is while it takes just over an hour to drive to London, making it the furthest away of all the “London” airports, it also charges much less in handling fees. You can contact the FBO at ops@londonoxfordairport.com

EGLF/Farnborough

Open: 0700-2200 weekdays, 0800-2000 weekends – but no extensions possible. Farnborough is a dedicated business aviation airport and can be contacted at ops@farnboroughairport.com

EGKB/Biggin Hill

Open: 0630-2300 weekdays, 0800-2200 weekends. Biggin Hill is one to consider for smaller corporate and charter operations. A dedicated bizav airport, only 12 miles outside of central London, and no slots required. A couple of FBOs to choose from:

Executive Handling: handling@bigginhillairport.com
Jetex: fbo-bqh@jetex.com

EGWU/Northolt

Open: Monday to Friday 0800-2000, Sat 0800-1500, Sun 1200-1900. So not great for night flights, but pretty handy otherwise as Northolt is one of the closest GA-accessible airports to central London, as well as the closest airport to EGLL/Heathrow (8 miles away). Bear in mind it’s a dual use military/civil airport, so you’ll need PPR, but they’re normally quite quick to approve this.

Universal is the FBO here: northolt@universalaviation.aero. Check here for more info.

EGMC/Southend

Open H24, but from 2300-0630 only aircraft classified with a Quota Count of 1 (QC) or less are permitted to take-off or land. So this basically restricts older, noisier jets from flying at night here. You can check the table at the end of this document to work out what your aircraft’s QC rating is, according to the UK CAA.

And you can contact London Southend Jet Centre FBO here: ops@londonsjc.com

EGBB/Birmingham

Correct, not a London airport! Just a bonus one for you, because outside of all those listed above, this is probably the next closest airport to London that is open at night. Two FBO options here, both open H24 (night time hours on request):

XLR Executive Jet Centre: jetcentre@xlrbirmingham.com

Signature: bhx@signatureflight.co.uk

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London: Closed At Night This Summer