Private aviation compresses everything. A departure that would take three hours at a commercial terminal takes twenty minutes at a private one, which means the ground transfer stops being a comfortable buffer and becomes a precision exercise. Arrive ten minutes late and you have undone the main advantage of flying privately in the first place.
This page describes how the ground side is arranged, in the order it happens: what we need from you or whoever is coordinating, how the drive is timed, what happens on arrival, and which parts of the process belong to the handler rather than to us. It is deliberately specific about the last of those, because it is where most misunderstandings begin.
What we need before anything is planned
The essential details are the terminal, the handler and the time your operator has told you to arrive. Private terminals are not interchangeable: several airports have more than one, sometimes on opposite sides of the airfield with different access roads and different rules. Naming the handler rather than the airport removes the single most common source of confusion. It is the one detail worth checking twice before the day.
Beyond that we want passenger numbers, the volume of luggage, and whether any of it is unusual in shape. Private cabins have generous allowances and passengers frequently travel with more than they would on a scheduled flight, which is the reason a saloon booked on assumption occasionally turns out to be the wrong car. Golf bags, ski equipment and instrument cases are best mentioned rather than discovered.
- The airfield and, more importantly, the handler or terminal name
- The arrival time your operator has asked you to meet
- Passenger names, since several sites require them on a gate list beforehand
- Case count and anything unusual in shape or weight
- Whether crew are travelling and on what separate schedule
- The onward address, which is often further than the flight suggests
Working backwards from the slot
The whole departure is calculated from the time you have been asked to be at the terminal, not from the time you would like to leave. Most private terminals ask for fifteen to twenty minutes before departure, though this varies by operator and by airfield. Confirm the expectation with whoever is running the flight and the drive is built backwards from it with sensible margin.
That margin is placed deliberately at the wrong end for comfort. Arriving very early at a private terminal is not a problem, because the lounges are pleasant and quiet and nobody minds. Arriving late is a genuine problem, because slots, crew hours and airport curfews are not flexible. So we plan to be early and simply wait, rather than plan to be exact and hope.
The departure run itself
Collection is unremarkable and deliberately so. Your chauffeur arrives early, loads the cases, and drives the route that was checked that morning rather than the one the satellite navigation offers at the junction. Private terminal entrances are frequently unsigned from the main airport approach and sit behind a gate that requires a name on a list, which is why the passenger manifest details matter.
At the terminal, the car is taken to the point the handler directs. Bags are unloaded and handed to ground staff or taken through to the lounge, depending on the arrangement at that site. Your chauffeur will not linger where vehicles are not permitted to stand, and he will not attempt to talk his way further onto the site than his instructions allow.
If you are being seen off or collected by somebody, tell us and we will plan for two vehicles rather than an awkward shuffle at a barrier. Second cars for accompanying staff, security or additional luggage are entirely routine and easier arranged in advance. Adding one on the day is possible but rarely quick, since a second vehicle has to reach the gate list before it can reach the gate.
Arrivals, and how the timing is handled
We do not offer real-time flight tracking, and we will not pretend otherwise. What we do instead is simpler and, on private movements, more reliable. Your chauffeur is on site and in position ahead of the expected arrival time, and updates come from you, your crew, your broker or the handling agent, all of whom know considerably more about where the aircraft actually is than any public feed does.
Practically, this means the car is waiting before you are down. Private arrivals are quick, and the gap between wheels stopping and walking out of the building can be a matter of minutes, so being in position early is the only arrangement that works. If the flight slips by an hour, a message from any of the parties involved moves the whole plan without difficulty.
What the handler controls, not us
This is the section worth reading twice, because it prevents the only recurring disappointment in this kind of booking. A number of things about a private terminal transfer are decided by the airfield, the handling agent and their security teams. We follow those decisions exactly. We are an independent chauffeur service and hold no official partnership or affiliation with any airport, terminal operator or handling agent, which is a claim some firms make loosely and we do not make at all.
Where something you want is possible, your operator or broker is usually the one who can arrange it, and we will work to whatever they set up. Where it is not, knowing in advance saves an argument at a gate in front of your guests. Handlers are consistent about their rules and are not persuaded by seniority, which is a good thing on the days when it works in your favour.
- Whether a vehicle may go airside or meet an aircraft on the apron
- Where cars are permitted to stand, and for how long
- Which names and vehicle details must be on the gate list beforehand
- Whether the chauffeur may enter the lounge or must wait outside
- The route across the site, which is directed rather than chosen
- Access at unsociable hours, which varies considerably between airfields
Crew, onward legs and the return
Crew transfers sit alongside the passenger booking rather than inside it. Keeping the two schedules separate matters, because crew usually arrive well before passengers and leave well after, and combining them produces a car that is in the wrong place at both ends. It is straightforward to run both from the same arrangement while keeping the timings independent. Say at the outset that crew are involved rather than adding them afterwards.
Onward legs are where the ground side often does the most work. A flight into Farnborough followed by two hours to a country house, a meeting the next morning and a return to a different airfield is a normal shape, and it is easier as one continuous booking than as three separate ones. Positioning runs at unsociable hours are ordinary work here and are planned properly rather than treated as an inconvenience.
