Had a bit of time to kill on Wednesday while in Paris for various appointments, including a visit to the Air & Space Museum at Le Bourget - venue for our 2013 Flightglobal Achievement Awards.
So I called into a couple of the seven or so fixed base operations that make Le Bourget the busiest dedicated business aviation airport in the world. While other cities such as London may have more business jet movements, they are spread between different airports. The UK capital, for instance, has five commercial airports, all of which handle business jets, as well as around half a dozen GA or business aviation-only airports within an 80km radius, including Farnborough, Northolt, Oxford and Biggin Hill. Most have just one or two FBOs.
The Advanced Air Support/ExecuJet FBO does not look much different to its neighbours from the outside - it is housed in a listed hangar that dates from the 1920s. But it has some nice touches. Aside from the usual crew rest areas, meeting rooms, VIP lounges and prayer room, is a portable building at the back of the hangar that houses two crew bedrooms. The accommodation is not exactly the Ritz, but the rooms are ideal for pilots with a short layover - say 5h - who want a sleep, shower and a bit of privacy but do not want to waste 2h of that being driven and checking into a downtown hotel.
Maybe other FBOs offer this, but it's the only time I've seen this.
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