Your Guide to The Upcoming Fashion Weeks: London

Our journey with the ‘Big Four’ Fashion Weeks continues and this time we will be covering London Fashion Week.
London Fashion Week is also held twice a year (Fall/Spring), this year Spring event will be taking place February 15-19th.

Which airports to use when attending Fashion Weeks in London?

London is very GA friendly, you can get the most comprehensive support and ground services for your aircraft and its crew. Our team recommends (EGSS) Stansted and (EGGW) Luton, as both airports operate 24/7, and about an hour drive to the West End, both airports also serve as an Airport of Entry (AOE).

If arranging an empty slot is not possible in Stansted / Luton we recommend (EGLF) Farnborough which is a GA friendly airport but about two hours drive to the primary fashion week venue.

(EGCL) London City and (EGWU) Northolt are even closer to the fashion week venue but expect it to be crowded as it will be primarily serving the fashion week designers, models, and media guests. All of these airports are (AOE) but unlike Stansted and Luton operation is not 24/7.

GA parking can be difficult to arrange in (EGGW) Luton from time to time and parking charges can be very expensive. While (EGSS) Stansted has a large GA ramp and can fill up with traffic at any time, this is now the third busiest airport in London, after (EGLL) Heathrow and (EGKK) Gatwick. Farnborough (EGLF) has GA parking availability, but as we mentioned above the airport is restricted by operating hours. Generally, it is recommended to request parking slots three to four days ahead when landing in London.

Airport slots are mandated for arrivals/departures at (EGGW) Luton, (EGLC) London City and (EGSS) Stansted.
(EGSS) Stansted is usually very helpful in providing slots at wished times while (EGGW) Luton seldom runs out of available airport slot, this particularly happens on Sundays. There are no airport slot requirements for (EGLF) Farnborough.

(PPR) or Prior permission required is needed for operation into (EGWU) Northolt. Our team recommends requesting permission three business days ahead.

Permits

Private non-revenue operators do not require permits, while charter (non-scheduled commercial) operators do.

Permits Lead Time

Permit request should be submitted 48-72 hours ahead of the flight, charter permits are usually processed on shorter notice.
Keep in mind that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) works only Monday-Friday 0900-1700 local time.

When a permit is approved it has a 48-hour validity window for arrival/departure. So schedule changes are not an issue unless you need to change origin or destination airports, in this case, you must get the CAA approval again.

CIQ Clearance

Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine procedures are almost similar at all London airports.
All airports have UK Border Force representatives or service partners. Passport validity is only needed for the length of stay. Visas may or may not be needed, depending on the nationality of the visitor and the purpose of the visit.

If you are arriving to do any work that will be paid for by a UK entity you may require a work visa. Visas on arrival are not possible in the UK, all passengers need to have in-hand any required visas prior to arrival.

Our team is always ready to assist you with your trip to the venue, we can arrange the required Airport Slots, PPR, Parking, CAA Permissions, Visas, Jet Fuel, and Ground Services. You can always request a free trip cost estimate via email or by filling the request from our eForms: Flight Support Request.