"I think it just does seem like the time now to say, 'yeah, let's stop flogging a dead horse' and put our efforts and investment elsewhere."
Given the position that this particular individual holds, these comments are very
controversial, flippant and unprofessional, in my opinion.
I question the motive(s) and timing of this hit-piece, which appears to me to have been 'planted' solely on one biased mainstream media outlet (BBC) - strange how none of the local newspapers (News & Star) have picked-up on these comments yet - they usually love reporting on an airport story because it's good click-bait for them and almost always causes division amongst readers in the comments sections of their various social media pages.
Originally Posted by
highwideandugly
A great little GA airport with minimal required facilities ,is and always was the best and only way forward.
I conducted a survey around Carlisle
last year and the data I obtained from this seems to suggest otherwise - locals are broadly supportive of the airport and want to see commercial flights resume to places like BHD, DUB, London, the Channel Islands and IOM - most of these cannot be reached that easily by train, apart from London.
Of course CAX can't/won't survive solely on commercial flights, but they can, do and will help to bring investment into the city and county as a whole, which is very important considering that tourism is one of, if not, the biggest drivers of income for the region.
The key thing that needs to happen is to maximise revenue-generating opportunities and make better use of the land around the site.
Unfortunately, Esken seem far more focused on SEN as they've made very little effort to get CAX open since Loganair left in mid-2020 - they've just constantly extended the closure period - the latest being until the end of Oct 2022, so nothing is likely to happen until Spring 2023 at the earliest now.
Originally Posted by
adg737800
I still believe a daily KLM flight to AMS would work (yeah, I know AMS has plenty of issues at the moment, but if INV works, CAX would too).
Agreed; I think CAX could potentially sustain twice-daily (morning and evening) flights to DUB in order to take advantage of the connection opportunities over to the USA, and as you suggest, a daily connection into a hub like AMS would help save locals from having to travel across to NCL, down to MAN or up to GLA.