Blackpool-3
Thread Starter
Blackpool-3
Coun Ivan Taylor, cabinet member for projects and partnerships, said the council had lost £1m a year when holiday flights previously operated from the airport, and private operators had also lost millions of pounds.
He said: “Subsidising people going on their fun trips to Tenerife and elsewhere is not within our possibilities. It would take us around £50m to do the investment to bring it up to scratch and we would still be losing money.”
He said: “Subsidising people going on their fun trips to Tenerife and elsewhere is not within our possibilities. It would take us around £50m to do the investment to bring it up to scratch and we would still be losing money.”
https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/n...jected-2920434
Thread Starter
Blackpool to be managed by the local coucil
https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/b...irport-3158036
https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/b...irport-3158036
A tendering operation has been ongoing to find a suitable company to run the airport as the current contract is due to run out, but the council has announced it will instead be creating a new subsidiary company, Blackpool Airport Operations Ltd, to manage Squires Gate.
The airport, which was bought by the council from Balfour Beatty in September 2017 for £4.25m, had been run by Stratford-based Regional and City Airports, part of the Rigby Group, which owns four airports of its own and had the licences to run two others including Blackpool.
The airport, which was bought by the council from Balfour Beatty in September 2017 for £4.25m, had been run by Stratford-based Regional and City Airports, part of the Rigby Group, which owns four airports of its own and had the licences to run two others including Blackpool.
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: London Whipsnade Wildlife Park
Posts: 5,038
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thread Starter
Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised hopes of holiday flights once more returning to Blackpool Airport as he made his own flying visit to the Fylde coast on Thursday. Mr Johnson was in the resort to set out a framework of plans to help families struggling with the cost of living crisis including the relaunch of ‘right-to-buy’ policies to help more people own their home. But he also found time to visit HeliSpeed at Hangar 3 at Blackpool Airport which is a major hub for pilot training. And he challenged Blackpool Council, which owns the airport but says it is not commercially viable to relaunch holiday flights, to look again at what could be done. He said HeliSpeed was “going great gangbusters” and was now one of the biggest helicopter training centres in the country which had “put Blackpool on the map from an aviation point of view". The Prime Minister said the town needed “Conservative politicians with a vision to take it on”, and said the council should look at what had been achieved at Teeside Airport which now has “bars, duty free, conference facilities and flights going to holiday destinations in Europe".
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: earth
Posts: 952
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: London Whipsnade Wildlife Park
Posts: 5,038
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: In the sticks
Posts: 9,847
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Seeing that Blackpool Airport has already knocked down its modern terminal and built on the terminal footprint, what are these people hoping to achieve? At the end of the main runway new homes continue to be built on the former Pontins site.
Thread Starter
Members of the Conservative group on Blackpool Council pledged their support for the return of flights to Belfast, Dublin and the Isle of Man during a visit and tour of the council owned airport on Squires Gate Lane.
Conservative group leader Coun Paul Galley said: “Since Blackpool lost its direct flights to the Isle of Man, Belfast and Dublin, we have seen a big reduction of visitors from those places.“I’m really keen to see those routes restored as soon as possible. For regional flight requirements, most of the infrastructure is in place and with some investment in a new arrival and departure area we should make that vision a reality.”
Deputy Conservative group leader Coun Michele Scott said: “The business case for any regional airline is to attract as many people on a return flight as those that fly out ,and we know many of Blackpool’s and Lancashire’s residents would use the airport to fly to Belfast, Dublin and Douglas ensures it has strong business case. “
Coun Jason Roberts, non-executive director at the airport, said “The importance of the operators at Blackpool Airport including our flying school, off shore helicopter operator and our corporate jet handler, hangar Three, have been key in ensuring that jobs have been retained and increased in recent years. This has ensured our airport has been kept very firmly on the map as a destination and departure point. Future plans will ensure steady sustainable growth and help to retain this strategic asset for the town, for many years to come.”
Conservative group leader Coun Paul Galley said: “Since Blackpool lost its direct flights to the Isle of Man, Belfast and Dublin, we have seen a big reduction of visitors from those places.“I’m really keen to see those routes restored as soon as possible. For regional flight requirements, most of the infrastructure is in place and with some investment in a new arrival and departure area we should make that vision a reality.”
Deputy Conservative group leader Coun Michele Scott said: “The business case for any regional airline is to attract as many people on a return flight as those that fly out ,and we know many of Blackpool’s and Lancashire’s residents would use the airport to fly to Belfast, Dublin and Douglas ensures it has strong business case. “
Coun Jason Roberts, non-executive director at the airport, said “The importance of the operators at Blackpool Airport including our flying school, off shore helicopter operator and our corporate jet handler, hangar Three, have been key in ensuring that jobs have been retained and increased in recent years. This has ensured our airport has been kept very firmly on the map as a destination and departure point. Future plans will ensure steady sustainable growth and help to retain this strategic asset for the town, for many years to come.”
Coun Lynn Williams warned airport bosses would not be “chasing loss-leading operations to holiday destinations that are not financially feasible.” She was speaking in response to calls by Conservative councillors for the restoration of Irish flights at the council-owned airport. Coun Williams said: “We have an ambitious 10 year plan to rebuild Blackpool Airport as a regional transport hub, building on the almost 40,000 flight movements that took place last year and creating new opportunities for it to become a commercially successful business. The overriding objective of the 10 year plan is to attract a diverse range of long term customers and operators to secure the airport’s future. We are looking at ways to create good quality jobs for the people of Blackpool, using the asset of our airport and the Enterprise Zone. When the airport was owned by Balfour Beatty, they had flights to Europe operating, but they were losing over £2m per year.So we won’t risk the financial future of the airport and the opportunities it could create by chasing loss-leading operations to holiday destinations that are not financially feasible for the airport as a business. We are exploring the viability of some regional scheduled or charter flights and are open to a contract which benefits all parties. Blackpool is obviously an attractive destination for incoming flights, and we are continuing to promote the airport as an attractive option to reach the North West.”
Problem is who is left to operate regionals flights out of airports such as Blackpool?
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: In the sticks
Posts: 9,847
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The fast removal of a modern terminal in 2016 sent out a powerful message that there was no going back. I note that the Council gave planning permission for its destruction in quick order while much of the town has abandoned buildings that have been empty for years.
Last edited by LTNman; 25th Sep 2023 at 07:17.
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: SW England
Posts: 32
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Some of us have affectionate memories of the old wooden hut which was the terminal pre-1995, so simple and efficient in getting you through and aboard your Spacegrand Twin Otter for Belfast (even, for a while, the Genair Short 330 for Heathrow!)
Thread Starter
Some of us have affectionate memories of the old wooden hut which was the terminal pre-1995, so simple and efficient in getting you through and aboard your Spacegrand Twin Otter for Belfast (even, for a while, the Genair Short 330 for Heathrow!)
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: In the sticks
Posts: 9,847
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Many airlines tried to make a success of the Irish routes but they all failed in the end.
I also had great affection for Blackpool’s wooden terminal, which I visited many times over the years. The replacement structure still looked modern until the end and I was sorry to see it go.
I also had great affection for Blackpool’s wooden terminal, which I visited many times over the years. The replacement structure still looked modern until the end and I was sorry to see it go.
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Godalming
Posts: 182
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
