Air show, arms fair or corporate gateway to Europe?
by Keith Parkins

Farnborough Airport is known internationally for its now defunct Royal Aircraft Establishment, once a world leader in aerospace research.

Farnborough Airport is also known for its biannual International Airshow, next due to be held 22-28 July 2002. Once a show case for the best in British aerospace, Farnborough International Airshow has degenerated into the world’s biggest arms bazaar to which dubious regimes are invited at taxpayers’ expense, even though the publicity still portrays it as a family day out to watch the planes.

Less well known is the fact that Farnborough Airport is becoming a key component of globalisation, the business airport for Europe. Flying in and out of Farnborough in their executive jets are the executives driving corporate led globalisation. Against massive local objection Rushmoor Borough Council granted outline planning permission in 2000 for TAG Aviation to build and operate a business airport at Farnborough, courtesy of the MoD. The benefits, according to the Tory controlled council, were to business and included the safeguarding of Farnborough’s aerospace heritage.
The local community suffers noise, pollution, and the risk of a crash. More than 80% of crashes occur on takeoff and landing. The crash zone at the end of the runway is a heavily poulated area.

A 1 in 100,000 risk contour (the risk of someone being killed in a year) is used to define a Public Safety Zone. This is the zone in which no one is permitted to live, work or congregate. At Farnborough the PSZ already encompasses non-permitted development - including houses, offices and a kindergarten. The kindergarten wished to expand but was refused planning consent on the grounds that it would not be safe - yet permission was granted for the airport expansion which caused the danger. Hundreds of acres of heathland to the west of Farnborough Airport have been destroyed - all the trees have been removed, the undergrowth grubbed out and even the soil scraped bare.

Who is behind all this? TAG Aviation is registered in Switzerland, its parent company TAG Group in Luxembourg. When the author questioned a TAG director about its lack of transparency, he said it was deliberate to keep the company’s affairs away from prying eyes. It seems that the people behind TAG are Saudi fixers - Akram Ojjeh and Mansour Ojjeh. Gerald James (former boss of Astra and a major player in the Iraqi Supergun affair) describes Akhram Ojjeh as a ‘Saudi financier and Middle East arms broker’ and links him to Wafiq Said who was the BAe-Saudi broker in the Al Yamamah arms deal of the 1980s.

A cosy and unhealthy relationship exists between TAG Aviation, BAe Systems, SBAC (organisers of the Farnborough International Airshow), the Ministry of Defence and Rushmoor Borough Council. BAe Systems is headquartered alongside the TAG operation at Farnborough. Together with SBAC they are the major backers of the business airport bid. This year, for the first time, executives and dictators alike will be able to fly direct into Farnborough for the airshow thus avoiding long queues and possible confrontation with demonstrators; a major selling point being pushed by SBAC and TAG.

The Conservative leader of Rushmoor Borough Council, John Marsh works for BAE Systems. He claims there is no conflict of interest. Last summer John Marsh and Rushmoor chief executive Andrew Lloyd went on a freebie trip to Paris, courtesy of SBAC, to visit the Paris Airshow. They neglected to tell their own council about the trip beforehand. When they were later found out they claimed they went to see how the Paris Airshow was organised. The local authority in Farnborough does not organise the airshow, it is organised by SBAC.

TAG have not yet acquired full planning consent but nevertheless operate their airport with impunity. Legal advice given to Rushmoor was that the operation was unlawful as it lacked planning consent, but Rushmoor has refused to carry out any enforcement action. A supposedly cast iron legal agreement exists between TAG and Rushmoor, in which TAG monitor the air pollution, the noise levels, determine their own noise models, even monitor their own compliance. The agreement specifically excludes enforcement by third parties, i.e. local residents.

TAG operate their airport under licence from the MoD. TAG pay for the upkeep and running of Farnborough and it is available to MoD should they need it. A condition of the lease between TAG and MoD is that the site is made available for the Farnborough International Airshow. Were TAG forced to shut down their airport, or TAG to go out of business and another operator not be found, the Farnborough International Airshow would cease to exist.

Big business, globalisation, arms dealers, it’s all happening at Farnborough.
Protests are being organised around this year’s airshow/arms fair - see diary 22-28 July.