MORE jobs are being brought to Bournemouth Airport after a large aviation company decided to move facilities there from Oxford and Farnborough.

Gama Aviation is to bring its maintenance of King Air planes and private jets to the airport’s business park.

The news comes seven months after Regional & City Airports (RCA) bought the Hurn site and pledged to grow its operations.

It is thought around 80 staff will have the chance to relocate to Dorset, but the total number of jobs being created has not been revealed.

RCA chief executive Andrew Bell said: “The arrival of Gama Aviation - a truly significant player in the aviation sector - is evidence that our growth plans are bearing fruit less than a year into ownership.”

Steve Rigby, chief operating officer at the Rigby Group, the parent company for RCA, said: “Bournemouth Airport is ripe for growth – and the site’s potential as a regional business hub also represents a clear opportunity for expansion.

“Gama Aviation’s new location at Bournemouth Airport is the first key delivery on our promise to drive forward the growth of the airport, creating a major new facility for business aviation as a core component of the strategic development of the airport.”

Gama Aviation, which provides and manages private aircraft, is a London Stock Exchange listed company. In accounts filed last month, it revealed an operating profit for 2017 of 18.7million US dollars, up 28.3 per cent from the previous year.

Scott McVicar, managing director of Gama Aviation Europe Ground, said: “Working with a business aviation friendly landlord in the Rigby Group and holding a 25-year lease on a fantastic MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facility provides us with the conditions needed to continue our strong growth of recent years.

“As a tenant with global reach we want to help develop Bournemouth as the UK centre of excellence for King Air and business jet maintenance, which we believe will have a direct benefit to the local community and economy over time.”

Rigby Group’s division Rigby Real Estate took over Bournemouth Aviation Business Park, which is home to more than 200 businesses, as part of the airport’s acquisition in December 2017.

Jim Stewart, chair of Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “We are delighted that Gama Aviation will be relocating to Dorset. Aviation Business Park is one of the region’s key employment sites and of significant strategic importance to the local economy.”