Stockholm City Airport is set to get its first purpose-built FBO when Grafair Jet Center opens early next month. The facility will consist of a 2,800-sq-ft, two-story terminal building and an 8,600-sq-ft hangar connected by some offices for maintenance staff. The terminal will include a lounge, flight planning offices and a range of FBO services.

Initially, privately owned Grafair will focus on providing handling for visiting business aircraft operators. But eventually it hopes to attract based operators that currently use the airport-owned Bromma Handling Services. The new FBO will provide line maintenance and may seek to specialize in more extensive support services for particular business aircraft types in the future.

Stockholm City Airport is located just five miles northwest of the center of the Swedish capital and is therefore much more convenient than Arlanda, the main gateway, which is 23 miles away. However, the downtown airport has long been threatened by closure and government policy only protects its existence until 2011. Grafair FBO project manager Richard Evers told AIN he is hopeful that the government will lift the threat of closure when it and the business community come to fully appreciate the importance of the airport to the Stockholm economy.

The airport has a single 5,800-foot runway. It cannot accept aircraft with a mtow of more than 110,000 pounds (50 tons). Consequently, business jets up to the size of a Global Express are permitted, but not those the size of a BBJ. Grafair operates amphibious Cessna 208 Caravans in the charter market and is set to add a Cessna Citation II to its fleet.