London
Airport Guides

Operating Detail

London airport briefings

The operational notes behind the airport choice, written by the desk that files the paperwork.

Operating into London

What is different about flying a private jet into London

The United Kingdom does not run on landing permits. It runs on the General Aviation Report, the online declaration of every arrival and departure filed between two and 48 hours before the flight, with fines for a missed filing. Visa-free nationals, US citizens included since January 2025, need an Electronic Travel Authorisation before they fly, valid two years. The commercial airports, London City and Northolt are slotted; Farnborough, Biggin Hill and Oxford run on prior permission. Night flying is limited by movement caps and quota counts at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted through October 2028, Luton allows ten night slots between 2200 and 0600, and the business aviation fields close overnight.

The business aviation fields are chosen by address, aircraft and hours. Farnborough, 35 miles south west, has 8,005 feet of pavement with a 6,768 foot declared takeoff run, no airlines and a single operator. Biggin Hill, 12 miles south east, has a 5,971 foot runway, no ACL slots, the longest hours of any London business aviation field and a six minute helicopter link to Battersea. London City sits six miles from the City with a 3,934 foot takeoff run and a 5.5 degree approach that admits only steep-approach certified light and midsize types. Northolt is a working RAF station seven miles from Heathrow, on slot and PPR, with a 5,534 foot runway and the military taking priority. Oxford, with 5,092 feet, is the north west approach. Denham is not a jet field.

The commercial airports take business aviation on their own terms. Luton, 30 miles north, handles more private jet movements than any other London airport, with several FBOs and a 7,093 foot runway. Stansted, 40 miles north east, has a 10,003 foot runway and ramps built for large cabin and VIP airliner types. Gatwick, 28 miles south, is the busiest single-runway airport in the world, Level 3 slotted and able to park an aircraft. Heathrow has the tightest slot regime in the UK and effectively no general aviation parking, so an arrival is a drop and go with a repositioning leg, and it makes sense only for a scheduled connection there. A late arrival goes to Stansted or Gatwick.

The constraint that catches crews out is the clock. Farnborough's 2200 weekday close and 2000 weekend close are firmly held, Northolt's civil window runs weekdays 0800 to 2000 and weekends are the exception, London City closes from Saturday lunchtime to Sunday lunchtime, and Luton has closed to general aviation overnight in past summers. An evening or Saturday afternoon slip has fewer fields than the list suggests. The desk picks the field for the address and the aircraft, checks the hours and the Farnborough Airshow in a July of an even year, runs the departure figures against the declared takeoff run rather than the pavement, files the GAR with the slot or PPR and the handling as one, and holds Farnborough as the fallback on a Northolt plan.

Send the dates, the aircraft and the London address, with the aircraft documents and passenger and crew names, nationalities and passport details for the GAR and the ETA check. Allow three working days for a first ETA and 48 hours notice for a dog or cat on a Defra-approved fleet. The desk comes back with the GAR filed, every passenger's ETA checked, the slot or PPR booked, handling confirmed and the fees itemised.

Facts checked against the UK AIP (NATS) publications, the airport guides above and Icarus Jet operations data.