RAF Northolt (IATA: NHT, ICAO: EGWU) is a Royal Air Force station located in South Ruislip, about 3.7 km (2 nautical miles) from Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon, west London. Roughly 10 km north of Heathrow, Northolt handles not only military operations, but also a significant number of private civilian flights under strict slot and coordination rules.
The airfield operates a single grooved asphalt runway (07/25) that is 1,680 m (5,510 ft) long and 45 m wide, with modern safety features including engineered material arrestor systems (EMAS) at both ends. The declared runway overrun areas (RESA) are 180 m on the eastern end and 131 m on the western end. Its field elevation is 38 m above sea level.
RAF Northolt has a long history, having first opened in May 1915 for the Royal Flying Corps — making it one of the oldest continuously used military airfields in the UK. Today, it supports around 2,000 personnel across 38 units drawn from all three armed services and several government departments, collectively known as “Team Northolt.”
No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron is based at Northolt, operating the Dassault Envoy IV CC1 in a VIP transport role. Other resident units include 600 (City of London) Squadron (RAuxAF), 63 Squadron RAF Regiment (King’s Colour Squadron), and the No. 1 Aeronautical Information Documents Unit. RAF Music Services are also headquartered at Northolt.
In recent years, Northolt underwent a major resurfacing of its runway. In 2019, the Defence Infrastructure Organization completed a £23 million project to upgrade drainage and install new arrestor beds, extending the runway’s useful life by 10–15 years. During resurfacing, fixed-wing operations were temporarily relocated (e.g., 32 Squadron flew from RAF Benson), though helicopter operations continued at Northolt.
For business aviation, Northolt remains popular, though capacity is limited. There is an annual cap on civilian movements to avoid excessive traffic, and in August–September 2025, stricter restrictions were imposed — limiting arrivals and departures and enforcing tight slot tolerances. Universal Aviation UK handles VIP ground operations, and as of March 2024 they arranged hangar space for mid-size business jets (e.g., Falcon 900) on an ad-hoc basis.
The dual-use nature of Northolt gives it a very strategic role in London: it supports government air transport, military operations, and limited business aviation, while also housing non-flying units like the British Forces Post Office, the Air Historical Branch, and ceremonial support groups.
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