Originally Posted by
pr00ne
Harley Quinn,
It is a single flying unit but one of three units on the station AND there is a commercial flying outfit in Hawker Aviation, who must be paying a commercial rent for their premises plus contributing to airfield operating costs. There is hardly a surplus of military airfields left in the area.
The cost of reproviding that 70 year old infrastructure elsewhere AND an airfield operating facility dedicated to the team must also be eye watering. .
Leeming has the infrastructure already, capital costs are sunk, Hawk mk1 support facilities etc. are in place. I would almost guarantee that anything Hawker Aviation paid for use of the facilities went into government general coffers, not defence so no real benefit there. Consolidation would surely be the prudent thing to do.