A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

London Biggin Hill Airport launched a new dedicated on-demand helicopter service that will ferry passengers to the London Heliport in Battersea in just six minutes, the company announced today at the 2015 NBAA Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference. Operated by resident charter provider Castle Air, a fleet of six passenger AgustaWestland AW109s is available to whisk away arriving clients with no prior notice. Included in the cost of the $3,500 flight, which offers the shortest journey time to London of any business airport in the UK, is door-to-door chauffeur service to the client’s final destination.

 


“We pride ourselves on continuing to develop a wide choice for access to and from London and the southeast,” noted Robert Walters, the airport's business development director. “The London Heli Shuttle experience will enable our customers to gain more control of their time, ensure the transit to and from London is as efficient as possible and have reassurance that we have chosen excellent service providers and partners.”

 


The shuttle service is the latest development in the airport’s strategy to attract more transatlantic traffic. Biggin Hill ranks third in the UK for business aviation movements,&nbsp;having logged approximately 14,000 last year, and the London-area airport’s operators are seeking permission to extend its operating hours from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday to 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., with an additional three hours on Sundays and public holidays. “With an expansion of our operating hours and no slot restrictions, we will be able to welcome more traffic, backed up by strong infrastructure with multi-choice FBOs, maintenance providers and extensive hangarage options,” said Walters.

 


In 2013, <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2013-08-15/us-uk-general-aviation-airports-sign-cooperative-agreement">London Biggin Hill signed a mutual support and development agreement with New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport</a>, recognizing the similarities between the two in their available customer infrastructure as well as their proximity to major financial centers (less than 12 miles in each case). Sister airport Teterboro has a similar service, which takes passengers via charter provider AAG’s Sikorsky S-76S shuttle to Manhattan in less than 10 minutes.

 


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