Originally Posted by
SWBKCB
The best thing that could happen to the airport is for Esken to be gone.
Amen - they should be given an ultimatum by the City Council as they're only the leaseholder. Instruct them to do something within a specific timeframe or force them to move out. Problem with this is that there are likely all sorts of penalties contained within the lease agreement and revoking it would probably lead to a lengthy court battle.
Carlisle City Council also share the same view as the Chamber as they're not prepared to put any more public money into the site and I doubt they'll do anything to upset Esken as they're likely sitting comfortably just accepting the lease payment(s) for now.
Esken want to sell it, however their asking price is clearly way too high - seeking >£10m was the last I had heard, but I'm not sure it's worth that in it's current state and/or how one might go about assessing the true market value.
Originally Posted by
SWBKCB
A small scale operation focussed on DUB, BHD, IOM would be interesting - maybe with BLK, something nearer to LM's Scottish ops rather than pretending to be a big airport.
Yes, CAX is in a similar situation that BLK found itself when it closed back in 2014. The local Council stepped in when the leaseholders threw the towel in and the management team have done a great job of attracting GA/private jets over the last few years and are now in a position to consider looking at commercial operations again. They also have an active MP who is campaigning to get flights going again. Lots of local people want Jet2 & Ryanair to return with flights to Portugal and Spain, which might able to happen in the future, but a small scale operation focusing on the destinations that you mention above would certainly be best in the short-term as these could/will also work at CAX.