Swansea
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Swansea
Posted in the Travel Weekly that Swansea Airport is going to be developed.....that would be good news for the sporting events notably the football and rugby......where it could see Swansea City Football Club, the Ospreys and Scarlets all using SWS instead of CWL.....interesting times ahead
The Travel Weekly entry reporting this:
The owner of the largest independent agency in Wales is bidding to open up Swansea airport to regional flights.
Martin Morgan, owner of 20-branch The Travel House, has launched a study into the feasibility of developing the terminal and said it was “looking promising”.
Morgan, who is also a director and majority shareholder of Swansea City Football Club, is pulling together a consortium of local organisations, including the university, council, businesses and sports clubs, to support his plans.
He said the group would be “up and running within a few months”.
Speaking exclusively to Travel Weekly, Morgan said: “Swansea is the UK’s 25th-largest city. The airport has 300 acres of land, which could be developed. And it has a 1,472-metre runway that could take regional aircraft, yet it doesn’t have any regional flights.
“Any aircraft that flies into London City could fly into Swansea. So we will be approaching the likes of Flybe, for example, which has some smaller aircraft.”
Morgan added: “Norwich, Exeter and Hull all have a regional airport and they are of a similar size to Swansea, so why shouldn’t Swansea have one?”
He said opening up Swansea airport would appeal to sports teams coming to play Premier League team Swansea City FC, and rugby union sides Ospreys and Scarlets.
“Visiting teams have to fly into Cardiff and then it’s more than an hour’s drive to Swansea,” he said.
The Travel Weekly entry reporting this:
The owner of the largest independent agency in Wales is bidding to open up Swansea airport to regional flights.
Martin Morgan, owner of 20-branch The Travel House, has launched a study into the feasibility of developing the terminal and said it was “looking promising”.
Morgan, who is also a director and majority shareholder of Swansea City Football Club, is pulling together a consortium of local organisations, including the university, council, businesses and sports clubs, to support his plans.
He said the group would be “up and running within a few months”.
Speaking exclusively to Travel Weekly, Morgan said: “Swansea is the UK’s 25th-largest city. The airport has 300 acres of land, which could be developed. And it has a 1,472-metre runway that could take regional aircraft, yet it doesn’t have any regional flights.
“Any aircraft that flies into London City could fly into Swansea. So we will be approaching the likes of Flybe, for example, which has some smaller aircraft.”
Morgan added: “Norwich, Exeter and Hull all have a regional airport and they are of a similar size to Swansea, so why shouldn’t Swansea have one?”
He said opening up Swansea airport would appeal to sports teams coming to play Premier League team Swansea City FC, and rugby union sides Ospreys and Scarlets.
“Visiting teams have to fly into Cardiff and then it’s more than an hour’s drive to Swansea,” he said.
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Ah the memories, A good day out CWL JSY Swansea JSY CWL with a DC-3,loverly way to spend a Saturday In the Glamorgan Flying Club By teatime couple of Ales Then home in time for supper
Haven't we been there before? The (previous?) owner, aka Air Wales, ended up almost bankrupt because of an attempt to do the same.
Having spent millions trying to upgrade Swansea, installing an ILS that was never used operationally, it all fell apart, both Air Wales and Swansea Airport. With Cardiff just down the M4 it will never work.
Speaking from personal experience some serious civil engineering work needs to be done on the main runway, including displacement of the 22 threshold to avoid high ground in the undershoot, which may then make the landing distance with a wet runway unviable for anything bigger than about an ATR 42. The add the cost of a new Tower farther from the runway to clear the transitional obstacle limitation surface for a precision runway. Then start looking at all new ATC equipment and the cost of establishing an ATC Unit............someone is going to have very deep pockets with little chance of a return on their investment in their lifetime.
Having spent millions trying to upgrade Swansea, installing an ILS that was never used operationally, it all fell apart, both Air Wales and Swansea Airport. With Cardiff just down the M4 it will never work.
Speaking from personal experience some serious civil engineering work needs to be done on the main runway, including displacement of the 22 threshold to avoid high ground in the undershoot, which may then make the landing distance with a wet runway unviable for anything bigger than about an ATR 42. The add the cost of a new Tower farther from the runway to clear the transitional obstacle limitation surface for a precision runway. Then start looking at all new ATC equipment and the cost of establishing an ATC Unit............someone is going to have very deep pockets with little chance of a return on their investment in their lifetime.
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Well we will just have to wait and see what goes ahead......
I used to fly LCY-CWL with Air Wales which then went onto SWS and the loads were always more for SWS than CWL, sometimes as high as 30 with 18 for CWL.....so the market is there for "selected specific" routes
I used to fly LCY-CWL with Air Wales which then went onto SWS and the loads were always more for SWS than CWL, sometimes as high as 30 with 18 for CWL.....so the market is there for "selected specific" routes
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Mr Morgan ought to be keeping a wary eye on his Travel House business rather than this nonsense. A fifteen minute difference in travel time from Rhoose or Fairwood is not going to fill this decrepit runway with shiny tin flying machines.
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Couldn't have summed it up any better myself. Some serious Civils needs to occur here before anything can even operate to the extent of his ambitions ! With CWL down the road too this makes it even more unviable
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I worry that he's said everything that needs said about his plans in the mention of London City Airport, which despite being located where Swansea isn't did not have a smooth start to life!
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It is a complete non starter as Mr Morgan knows. It was his ownership of the airport that installed the ILS. The major problem is that when installed it was viewed as a new instillation and required full runway lighting including feed in lights. One huge problem is that to put the lights in requires building on a) common land not owned by the airport, b) the site is an SSSi.
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I'm sure he is aware of all the risks....I pretty much doubt he would just throw away the money for no apparent reason.
It's not as if it is going to be made into Heathrow Part 2 and I would only imagine selected scheduled flights as per the days of Air Wales....seems LCY or any of the London airports is popular with the locals. J41 to ATR size aircraft. We always had good passenger loads when Air Wales operated SWS-CWL-LCY, majority originating at SWS over CWL. He knows what he is doing and I say good luck all round.
Also as he has stated, if invested into then this would be beneficial for the football and rugby teams both for home and away matches.
It's not as if it is going to be made into Heathrow Part 2 and I would only imagine selected scheduled flights as per the days of Air Wales....seems LCY or any of the London airports is popular with the locals. J41 to ATR size aircraft. We always had good passenger loads when Air Wales operated SWS-CWL-LCY, majority originating at SWS over CWL. He knows what he is doing and I say good luck all round.
Also as he has stated, if invested into then this would be beneficial for the football and rugby teams both for home and away matches.
There are plenty of middle aged wealthy men who decide to burn a lot of their wealth by buying a football club. Perhaps owning an airport with scheduled passenger flights is the latest fashion ?
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Well the airport has been there since the years so maybe a bit of TLC will prove everyone wrong.
Good luck I say to them and would certainly use a SWS-CWL-LCY service again if it ever happens
Good luck I say to them and would certainly use a SWS-CWL-LCY service again if it ever happens
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"TLC"!!!! What are you on? Major as in MAJOR re-development required? Even I an ILS were installed, the amount of suplementary work required would cost many many millions!! How many profitable routes would be required to make this justifiable. Don't get me wrong Fairwood is very special to me ( learned to fly there),but this is not going to happen!
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Swansea does not have the population or the inbound demand to support an airport for scheduled services. The minute you open the door you need a raft of employees to cover fire station, ATC, baggage handling etc etc. This is before you even consider security staff and maintenance costs and very substantial initial investment... Nowadays to make an airport work you'd need circa 1million passengers to make the operation stack up and that presupposes the airlines will pay a going rate for using the facilities, which is not always the case.
Unless ocourse there is a huge government subsidy, which is in my can not be justified. Until recently Cardiff had been struggling and the last thing that is needed is another airport in the same neck of the woods.
Unless ocourse there is a huge government subsidy, which is in my can not be justified. Until recently Cardiff had been struggling and the last thing that is needed is another airport in the same neck of the woods.
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Sigh, year on year it seems to be hanging on by it's teeth, the last couple of years the cafe never opens, if you are lucky there is a burger van, but only if there is a parachuting going on.
They have one bloke doing the everything except Radio but inluding fire service
I don't know who owns the place but in the last decade they have let a major asset turn into a dump, perhaps whoever they are simply don't have the means to cover the now pressing and essential investment it needs to survive, such a shame as it's a fantastic area to fly around.
They have one bloke doing the everything except Radio but inluding fire service
I don't know who owns the place but in the last decade they have let a major asset turn into a dump, perhaps whoever they are simply don't have the means to cover the now pressing and essential investment it needs to survive, such a shame as it's a fantastic area to fly around.
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I paid my first visit to Swansea Airport last week. I thought it had the feel of Lydd but on a smaller scale. Noted the ILS which apparently has never been used in anger.
The terminal looked semi abandoned as did the whole airport. Maybe 4 or 5 light aircraft parked up with only one movement for the hour I was there.
Not sure how the airport makes any money but by doing a google search the airport seems to attract the odd business jet movement.
Wasn’t the airport involved in the movement of livestock many years ago?
The terminal looked semi abandoned as did the whole airport. Maybe 4 or 5 light aircraft parked up with only one movement for the hour I was there.
Not sure how the airport makes any money but by doing a google search the airport seems to attract the odd business jet movement.
Wasn’t the airport involved in the movement of livestock many years ago?
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This isn't about aviation, it's about land. If the airport permanently closes it will go back to its pre-war status as common land. Since this is in an AONB and an SSSI, development chances will be nil. Keeping the the aviation side going is the only way that a hotel, conference centre, housing (?) etc. will ever happen.
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yeah - build a bunch of new offices , car parks, hotels etc etc and maybe some large "hangars"... then show it won't work and can I keep my buildings please??
Might even be worth having a small airline losing a bit of cash to keep the fiction up
Might even be worth having a small airline losing a bit of cash to keep the fiction up