by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Around 300 new jobs are poised to take off at Biggin Hill Airport.

Middle East firm Rizon is investing £10m in a 70,000 sq ft hangar, maintenance and passenger processing facility, creating 90 jobs, with a further 160 expected over the next few years.

Thirty jobs will be created at a new £8m 150-bedroom hotel. An apron extension, another hangar and new fire station are also in the pipeline.

These projects are welcome news for the executive aviation hub that was hit by the downturn in the second half of last year.

"People just stopped travelling," said airport director Peter Lonergan, pointing out that it was not just a Biggin Hill problem. Business activity dropped by around 30 per cent across all London airports.

But Mr Lonergan says that since December, business has picked up for an airport used to handling celebrities like Sir Elton John, Barbra Streisand, Michael Schumacher and Nigel Mansell.

Rizon, based in Doha, needs the new terminal for major overhaul projects. The hangar will have an engine turbine facility, a prayer room and entry point for passengers arriving from the Middle East in private aircraft.

Biggin Hill, an £11 million-a-year business, used to employ around 1,200 people but that number declined to 800 in recent years. Some 400 jobs were lost with the demise of the motor racing television service run by Formula One, although Bernie Ecclestone, the head of F1, keeps his operation - and private jet - at Biggin Hill.

But the Rizon and hotel projects should take the workforce back to around 1,000.

Mr Lonergan would like to extend flying hours, especially during the Olympic Games in 2012, but is conscious of residents' concerns over noise. He says a new generation of private jets such as the Gulfstream are quieter than ever before, and at 2,000 ft, almost impossible to hear.

Meanwhile, the SkyPets Executive Pet Handling Service at Biggin Hill - run by Bee Ames - is continuing to grow as more passengers are accompanied by their dogs and cats to destinations in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. More travellers are using the Pets Passport system that replaces lengthy quarantine arrangements.