Thanks for the info Guys good news indeed then. Let's hope that many more new initiatives follow.

Newquay
 

According to today's Cornish Guardian regarding Newquay Airport, Cornwall Council is set to provide a revenue subsidy in 2011/12 of £3.374 million. In addition the airport will require the Council to pay £7.8 million towards airport capital expenditure over the next three years. Apparently this "could" result in an additional £14 million in European funding.

Is this a bottomless pit or reasonable expenditure? Does the airport have a future. Can the Council who are suffering big cuts like all public bodies have the ability to continue to fund this.

Why don't you ask the Council members and politicians who originally funded it's development and continue to make it the only airport of it's size in the UK a fully Council owned airport.

It should really be majority owned and run by a private investor who, not only knows how to make a regional airport run efficiently but also takes the hit in the bad times and the profit in the good.

as said, the trouble is the fact that its council owned.

the airport will see more routes and airlines, and already has a decent GA traffic.

from what i understand things are happening out at NQY

Alas Cornwall has no need for a 9,000' runway!

Let's face it, Cornwall only has need for a circa 6,000' runway, the airport has adopted a mega military airbase, Plymouth has a tiny airport and are selling the land to make it pay, NQY has mega excess land but who is there to sell it to with so much other land readily available?

As for GA, well surely there is a conflict of interests with Perranporth being just down the road, just how many airports/airfields does Newquay need?

I see that the runway usable width has been reduced from the original 300', perhaps in time the usable length shall also be reduced, but the fact remains that the airport remains with one hell of a lot of paved surfaces which need to be maintained.

Some interesting responses here for which many thanks. 6000ft. runway mentioned as all NQY requires. Resurfacing in due course will of course be required which is shortly to take place at Culdrose to their 6000 ft of runway. It would be fascinating to know what it is going to cost down there. Sadly like many I have little or no confidence in Cornwall Council to run anything at a sensible cost but want the airport to succeed.

NQY - The Only Council Run Airport?
 

So, what about the airports in the Manchester Airports Group?

MAN, EMA, BOH and HUY - the only shareholders are the Manchester local Councils.

Ditto for BHX.

Arms-length Plc's set up to run them as separate businesses I'll grant you, but Council run (and highly profitable) nontheless.....

Newquay
 

Does anyone know what sort of population figure lives within Newquay's catchment area?

Cornwall has approx. 500.000, Devon 1.000.000.

Eurochallenger -2008 statistics show 334,000 resident ( probably nearer 400,000 now) 4.4 million people visited creating 23 million visitor nights in Cornwall as a whole. A very large percentage ( around 60%) of these would be bringing a caravan or motorhome, camping, coached in or staying in holiday homes so will almost certainly arrive by road and will be mostly UK originating.

The fact 400,000 people are resident in Cornwall is misleading as far as Newquay Airport catchment area is concerned since many living East of Bodmin could be described more in the Plymouth or even Exeter catchment area.

Another factor which is relevant is that being mainly a tourist area many locals derive their income from Summer visitors so are far more likely to holiday outside of the tourist season.

It is impossible to give all the information here but hope that helps you a little.

You see ... until 1986 Cornwall could have expected a lot of international (Dutch) travellers but alas the war with the Isles of Scilly ended. :)

BBC News - RAF to start aircraft training at Newquay Airport
rather interesting!
cs

I have often wondered why KLM don't do a service from Exeter, Plymouth or Newquay. Surely there's enough demand between them, and once you get to Schipol you can go anywhere. I'm sure there's a good reason!

I can't see KLM doing a service from EXT. Flybe operate EXT-CDG which is a code share with AF part of AF/KLM group. That gives the whole of the south west a connection anywhere in the world. Flybe also operate their own service to AMS from EXT.

KLM operate feeder services from BRS which covers a huge catchment area within a 1 hours drive.

PLY's runway is just to small to operate from and the catchment area around NQY is just to small for an operator like KLM to be interested in.

Just my own thoughts

CC99

derelicte,

KLM don't operate anything capable of performing in/out of PLH, their smallest aircraft, now, is the F70, something like 84 seats, KLM like to serve a commuter route (for connections purposes) a minimum of 3 times daily, what do you think the chances are of 250 people travelling daily NQY-AMS and vice versa?

As for EXT-AMS, long ago it was tried, I recall, with an Air UK Bandit (Air UK later became KLM), if not a Bandit then a Shed 330, I think they routed/combined it via SOU, with only 18 (ish) seats it didn't pay and, nowadays, KLM serve BRS instead.

Good news.. I imagine it's stuff like this that keeps the airfield going- and I imagine it needs it.

Cheers PF and cc.

Maybe with the Gatwick flights going it could work. I'm no expert but I don't know why far South West people would be filled with any kind of enthusiasm for going to such an inaccessible place as Lulsgate. It's particularly sad when the Exeter and Newquay runways are so long and useful. Anyway, time for MOTD.

derelicte,

There are only so many people in the NQY catchment area, of those only a certain percentage will need to fly to other parts of UK and internationally, in the old days they were all funneled into one NQY/LHR/NQY route and the route was viable, take away that 'funneling' by offering them DUB, LGW, GLA, MAN, NCL etc, whilst withdrawing the LHR service, then one or more of those routes will fail.

I would suggest that MAN has replaced the LHR route!

How about selling Newquay airport for housing, and using the money to finance a new 6000ft runway parallel to the A30 at Victoria. It would point in the right direction and would have rail as well as a good road connection.

The real nonemmet;)

Then again, they could develop Truro International..


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