Its very frustrating reading this thread on Carlisle hearing peoples negativity and showing little or no support for a new venture. We all know that small airports struggle especially in the beginning but whats to really say that Carlisle wont work.
Im sure some decent research in to passenger demand, routes and the right airline have gone in to the project. What this airport needs is support and positive views/suggestions to get it up and running. I live and work in the Lake District and can assure you that albeit the weather is less favorable in the winter tourism is booming and the winter moths are no exception. Carlisle is well situated for the whole of the Lake District, Cumbria and the Borders. Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow are all lengthy journeys from the Lakes. Traffic to and from these airports is congested and expensive to use. Half the time trains from the Lakes to the airports don't run on time, run at inconvenient times and are always full and expensive to use. The comments I hear on the London route are all similar. You are not in central London, you have to get a train. When you fly into Heathrow you have to get on either a train or the tube. The train is the express train which comes at a price and the tube takes in the region of 45-50 minutes. Some suggest that the train from Southend is almost quicker than those other options with an average journey time of 56 minutes and less airport congestion and with fares starting from £5.
As the project leader of Carlisle said they are making baby steps and building up from the ground. They have a modern facility, good location and Loganair is a fantastic airline who is doing particularly well in the current climate. I wish Carlisle the best of luck and luck and look forward to flying out of there soon. I appreciate that most of my post is personal views but public support goes along way.