The Duke of York opened one of the world’s most futuristic airport buildings on Tuesday, May 2 – at Farnborough, Hampshire, home of the world famous international air show.

The Prince, a keen flyer, often uses the airport, which is Britain’s premier business aviation centre and also the birthplace of European aviation.

In fact the rich, famous and discrete filter regularly through the stunning, aluminium-clad terminal building, now officially open for business with 52,000 square feet of space costing £10.2 million.

Prince Andrew was the right choice for the day as a keen flyer, Royal Navy aviator and former president of the Royal Aero Club of Britain, as Roger McMullin, Chief Executive Officer of TAG Farnborough’s parent company, told guests.

The new building joins an air traffic control tower that looks like one of the Martian machines from 'War of the Worlds', plus new hangars with sweeping, gracious contours.

At TAG Farnborough visitors can step straight from their aircraft into their cars, making it unique among European airports. Because of congestion at major airports, many business jet operators are heading their planes to Farnborough, an hour’s drive from central London.

From July 17 to 23 television viewers can get a glimpse of the stylish new-look Farnborough Airport when the international air show gets airborne. The latest planes will be flying from a site where Colonel Sam Cody took the first powered flight in Great Britain – in 1908. Later the Royal Aircraft Establishment grew up around the military airfield and much of the development on Concorde was carried out there.