Edinburgh Airport to be sold..

[tuscan]

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Edinburgh Airport 'must be sold' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7787193.stm)

I heard this on the news this morning. I hope that any new owner will be more sympathetic towards GA which has been slowly shoved into a corner over the years.

Good luck to all who operate from Ed, I hope you are kept in the loop during the takeover and restructure that will follow.

[Squawk7143]

BAA have planned £250 Million expansion plans and project a desire for 26 million passengers by 2030 at Edinburgh. Presumably this level of business potential will attract interested parties.

Difficult to see where GA would fit in even with a new operator when the real desire is to pack in passengers and sell them value added services based on retailers etc.

I wonder if the future of GA in this country needs "Business/ GA" airports acting alongside larger passenger airports? Smaller facilities where there is no remit to grow large passenger numbers, but from which all business aviation and GA would operate. By business I mean air taxi type traffic be it piston, turbine or jet. I do not pretend to know how the economics of such airports might work beyond the obvious landing/parking fees. It would no doubt mean a significant change in policy at government level.

One is left wondering if without such a ( properly planned and coordinated) approach GA may end up operating out of nothing but grass strips in the UK.

I am sure there are loads of folks out there who know a lot more about this than me so forgive me if I have not demonstrated the level of understanding of the problem that some folks may feel is necessary.

Squawk

[IO540]

No UK airport, apart from Heathrow or Gatwick, is so busy it could not accept GA, perhaps using slot allocation (slots purchased online) to avoid the busier periods.

It's a question of management attitude, and building a dedicated "GA terminal" (a wooden hut, basically).

[Squawk7143]

IO540,

I wouldn't disagree with you, but would the management attitude not be centered on the per sqr mtr rental value of the space for that wooden hut?

Getting in and out from time to time is one thing, basing flying clubs / schools there is another. That is why I mentioned co-location with purpose built business airfields. Less pressure to attract high profile / high value retail chains who can afford the rental space.

[tuscan]

Im not sure of the frequency of flights in and out of Ed but I can see the flightpath along the Firth Of Forth from my office window in town and the spacing would sometimes be a bit tight to get in with a light single whilst complying with wake clearances between the heavies.
Perhaps slot times for GA wouldn`t be a bad thing but a bit restrictive for any training ops.
With so many other fields around the Central Belt I do wonder what the appeal is to operate from Ed. Could it be the licensing, Fife being the nearest alternative?

[IO540]

Training would be a problem, because a school needs a high asset utilisation % which it isn't going to get.

But the cost of a hut, and a GA apron? Insignificant.

One would make the landing fee say £25, which would keep away everybody except those who need to fly there, which would preserve the utility value to GA of these airports.

Slot booking online is dead trivial. The Germans do it for the Friedrichshafen (EDNY) show, and the funniest thing is that you can buy them with Paypal :) :) OK, any teenager could have thought of that one, but to see a big business do something so obviously "with the times" is refreshing.

[dont overfil]

Ah for the good old days when 26/08 was open, and it was used as a parallel. Come to think of it we used to use 31 as it was and make an early left turnout.
Three flying clubs, university air squadron, cadets air experience flights and army helicopter training.
Where there's a will......
DO.

[Captain Smithy]

At the moment operating GA from Edinburgh isn't really a problem; it does get busy sometimes but ATC do a wonderful job of accomodating GA traffic, both visitors and aircraft based there, and there are no real problems, occasionally being asked to orbit for a few minutes is about all. The only snag is that for training circuits cannot be flown at Edinburgh due to the traffic, however Fife and Cumbernauld are only 15 minutes away. How will things be different if expansion goes ahead as planned? Ask Mystic Meg. No one can be sure how this will affect GA.Interesting developments over the past couple of days, we will need to wait and see what happens in the future, will things really be better without BAA? I have thoughts for and against that. The so-called free-market isn't always the answer to everything, despite what low-cost airline managers/beancounters/Tories/Daily Mail journalists say.The light aircraft based at Edinburgh have their own grass parking area which the flying club maintains itself, and the airport seems happy with that. The flying club seems to have a good relationship with the airport management, hopefully this will continue for many years to come.Smithy

[tuscan]

DO,

When I started learning to fly out of Aberdeen (Aberdeen Flying School, previously Pegasus) all the payments went to Edinburgh Air Centre, were they one of the schools.
The instructors were always excited about ferrying the Cessnas down for servicing and as students we were always hoping to get along for the experience.

[dont overfil]

Edinburgh Flying club and Edinburgh Air Centre were at the north east next to the railway and Turnhouse Flying Club was on the north side near where the Post Office building is now. EFC operated the bowser which was used by the other clubs.
The only one still in existence is the Edinburgh Flying club now on the south side.

When I started flying there in 1988 the landing fee was £2.50 and G-BGRO was £65 per hour.

What I really liked about flying from Edinburgh was the ability to return from a trip as late as one liked.

DO.

[tuscan]

Thats a lot less than I payed a couple of years ago for
G-BGRO (BABYGRO) out of Kirknewton. She looked good in the new paint scheme, inside was a bit tired though.
Mind you £45/hour (the difference) spread over 20 years make it seem expensive back then in 88.

Smithy,

you could practice go arounds at Kirknewton for free though couldn`t you? Obviously not full landing circuits or touch and goes due to it not being licenced.

[Squawk7143]

Does Kirknewton have a useable tarmac strip? Or is it pothole city? I take it they have a useful grass strip there? Any problems getting zone transits to get in and out, or do they have specific routes? I am looking for somewhere to do some grass strip practice.

[dont overfil]

Kirknewton not available to visitors. Potholed tar.
DO.

[Squawk7143]

DO,

Please check your PM's

Squawk