The first stage of a plan to link Cumbria to London and Europe by air has been completed with the owners of Carlisle Airport buying Southend Airport for £21m.
The Stobart Group has signed a deal to acquire the Essex airfield, once London’s third largest, and will immediately begin a multi-million pound programme of improvements.
The purchase is a key plank in Stobart chief Andrew Tinkler’s plans to create a thriving passenger and freight service at Carlisle Airport.
Provided planning permission is given for the Irthington development, Southend would act as a southern hub linking Carlisle to London and Europe.
Southend, which is the closest airport to the site of the London 2012 Olympics, will eventually be linked to the centre of the capital via a high speed train line.
Its runway will also be lengthened to accommodate flights to and from southern Europe; it is currently only able to serve northern European airports.
Mr Tinkler said passengers would eventually be able travel from Carlisle to London’s Liverpool Street station in under one-and-a-half hours. Flights could also be boarded at Southend to destinations like Spain and the south of France.
Mr Tinkler’s plans for Carlisle Airport, which also include moving the Eddie Stobart road haulage business there, will be decided on by Carlisle City Council later this month.
He withdrew the proposal earlier this year after it was ‘called in’ for a public inquiry by the Government, who said it did not fit in with the local plan for the area.
He said he was confident the redrawn plans now complied with the local plan.
He told the News & Star: “This has been going on behind the scenes for a long time, but I couldn’t say anything. I hope this proves how serious I am about Carlisle Airport.”
Mr Tinkler has threatened to move the Stobart business out of Cumbria if the airport development is not permitted by February 2009, when the lease on his Kingstown HQ expires. He added: “People are saying these are threats, but they aren’t. I don’t believe in putting pressure on.”
On the Southend purchase, Mr Tinkler said: “This is part of our plans for a multi-modal business.
“It makes sense for a transport company to own an airport. We are not just about road and rail, but sea and air as well. We need a southern base. Southend was the third largest airport in London and it is the closest to the site of the London Olympics (at Stratford).
“There will be a high speed rail link built which will get you to Liverpool Street station in 49 minutes, which goes through Stratford. That means its as close to the centre of London as Luton or Stansted airports.
“The advantage of Southend, though, is that you don’t fly through London airspace, so you miss out on all that traffic. With express terminals that we are developing at both ends, I think you will be able to get from Carlisle to the centre of London in about one-and-a-half hours, give or take.”
A multi-million pound development plan is on the table for Southend, including a new control tower, terminal building and high-quality hotel, plus the new airport railway station and rail link.
Mr Tinkler said the Stobart Rail arm of the group would take over some of that work, including building the station.
Southend Airport managing director Alistair Welsh keeps his job after the deal.
Stobart is paying the vendor, Regional Airports, an initial £16m for the airport and could pay a further £5m subject to the “achievement of certain aspects of the airport’s development”.
To help finance the deal, the company is raising £11.5m by issuing 15.75m new shares at 73p each. Mr Tinkler is expected to buy a number of those shares.
Stobart will use £10m of the proceeds of the share issue and a £6m vendor loan note to pay the initial £16m.
Southend has been included in the Thames Gateway blueprint plan, projected to become one of the UK’s fastest growing development regions, and which includes the new DP World London Gateway Port, opening nearby in 2010.