Blu Halkin’s second base is in Northern Italy, but it selected Cambridge as its UK home owing to its outstanding business aviation maintenance expertise, further bolstered by the recent acquisition of the Hawker Beechcraft Ltd MRO in Broughton, and its excellent ground handling capabilities.
Daniele Scaglia, Commercial Director Blu Halkin comments: “We are excited to be positioning our first aircraft in the UK, close to the beautiful and historic city of Cambridge. The airport’s growing business aviation hub and its strengthened business aviation capabilities are highly attractive to us as an operator. We plan to add a further Cessna Citation aircraft to the fleet this year followed by a longer range aircraft in 2014 enabling reach to the USA and the Middle East.”
Jon Harper, Business Development Manager at Cambridge International Airport added: “Blu Halkin is a welcome addition to our growing number of tenant companies and their immaculate Citation CJ3 complements the expanding range of business jets and executive helicopters available for charter here.”
Cambridge is home to charter operators ExecuJet, 2Excel, Lanthwaite (helicopters) and FlairJet, which has a dual Cambridge and Oxford base. Earlier this month the airport also welcomed regular scheduled flights to Milan, Amsterdam, Paris and Geneva by award winning regional carrier Darwin Airline of Switzerland with 50-seat Saab 2000 aircraft.
Image: Daniele Scaglia, Commercial Director Blu Halkin, and John Harper, Business Development Manager at Cambridge International Airport
Cambridge International Airport
Cambridge International Airport is part of the Marshall Group of Companies, a privately owned family business, employing over 4,000 people with a turnover exceeding £1 billion, managed by the Marshall family. The business was founded in Cambridge in 1909, and entered aviation in 1929. Although Cambridge Airport is an important gateway for the East of England, with a strong focus on Cambridge and its business, academic and industrial sectors, the airport is also ideally positioned for easy access to London with just under an hour’s drive to the Canary Wharf and East London. With a 1,965m/6447ft runway accepting aircraft up to Boeing 757 or Airbus A320 and all regional jet types, it is suitable for short to medium haul passenger airline services, with 24/7 capability. It boasts CAA Category 7 Fire & Air Traffic Control status and has full navigational aids and communications, which include radar approach coverage up to 30nm and GPS approaches, which complement an ILS system.
Marshall Aviation Services (www.marshallas.com) is responsible for all of Marshall ADG’s business and commercial aviation activities, including the management of Cambridge International Airport. Across its Broughton, Cambridge and Oxford locations it offers solutions including: maintenance, modification, refurbishment and conversion of business aircraft to Hawker, King Air and Cessna Citation aircraft amongst others. The company also provides aircraft management and charter through FlairJet; sales of new Beechcraft aircraft across the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia; hangarage at Cambridge Airport; and within JETability, aircraft brokerage and complementary services tailored to the requirements of business aircraft owners and operators.
Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group (www.marshalladg.com) specialises in the conversion and modification of military, civil and business aircraft; defence vehicle engineering and shelter manufacture. Its capabilities include engineering design, manufacture and test, systems integration, maintenance and product support, and the provision of personnel, training and advice.
The company is valued for its integrity, performance and customer focus which has been demonstrated through its innovative solutions and ability to deliver on-time and to-cost.
Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group is part of the Marshall Group of Companies which employs over 4,500 people with a turnover in excess of £1.1bn.
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Media contacts
Alison Chambers / Liz Danner, Emerald Media
Tel: +44 (0) 1420 560094
alison.chambers@emeraldmedia.co.uk
www.cambridgeairport.com
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Cambridge International Airport welcomes business aviation operator Blu Halkin
19 September 2013
Cambridge International Airport welcomes new business aviation charter operator Blu Halkin Limited to the growing East of England hub this month. Blu Halkin became the airport’s fifth UK AOC based operator when it celebrated its maiden flight from Cambridge to Milan with its Citation CJ3 (G-PAOL) at the end of August.