Carlisle
 

Hi,
I am just curious about Carlisle Airport. I know there are no flights from there, but does the airport have a terminal building, and what sort of state is the airfield in - does it have airfield lighting etc?

Thanks guys.

EGNC
 

Carlisle.

Carlisle has basic facilities as a licenced airport.

Runway 25/07 licensed with an NDBDME Approach, runway edge lights, papis and simple approach lights on runway 25 (none on 07)

Runway 19/01 is on 938m long and only for light aircraft, licensed but with no runway lighting (except green centreline lights as its also the taxiway to the main runway).

They also have VDF.

They have a small terminal building, but has no scheduled service and the terminal is rarely used. There is a cafe bar oipen daily serving the usual airfield meals (although I would recommend the cumberland sausage!)

It provides an Approach and Tower service on 123.600 and has an ATIS (I think)

Fire catergory is generally 2 with 3 on request but higher may be available upon request.

The airport is making some progress in places such as a recent apron extension but does still need a lot of investment to bring it up to a good standard for schedules services.

Good little airfield for GA though, although possibly a little bit on the expensive side unless you negotiate a special rate.

Pvt me if you want more info

http://www.carlisleairport.co.uk/info.htm

you can get a fair bit of info on their website.

Once a Cumbrian, always a Cumbrian.

M.

The cumberland sausages are great right enough!! :D

The 'terminal building' is little more than a portakabin used for storing somebody else's second hand airport furniture. I think I have only ever seen it used once and that was for the pax on a private charter KingAir. Both of them.

I am sure British Midland took in one of their B737s with John Major on board during his election campaign a few years back. There were reports that a rather well known journalist/quiz show pundit was up to some naughty stuff on that flight too.

From 'The Cumberland News'
 

I can also remember Dan-Air flying Ambassadors Newcastle-Carlisle-Isle of Man, also Derby Airways (later BMI) Dakotas, presumably also IoM. And Autair Heralds Heathrow-Carlisle-Dundee.

Didn't somebody once propose a CAX-LTN (or was it LCY) with a 146?

If the facilities at Carlisle were improved, maybe a decent route for Scot or Ryanair (CAX- London LTN/STN/LCY) as not much of major airports up that way (Glasgow & Pretswick to the North), Newcastle to the East & Manchester to the South. Flying would certianly beat the current Virgin trains Carlisle to London train service.

FC

The original Manx Airlines used to operate an Isle of Man - Carlisle service...I think it must have been in the 50/60's era.

http://www.uk-airport-news.info/carl...ews-160606.htm

Freight company Eddie Stobart's boss, Andrew Tinkler, has unveiled £20m plans to transform Carlisle Airport into an international transport hub. The millionaire haulage tycoon wants to make the airport the base for a newly formed airfreight company called Stobart Air - and bring international passenger travel to Cumbria.

The plans include laying a new runway and building a multi-million pound departure and arrivals lounge. Mr Tinkler said: 'If we can get the infrastructure right, the airport could put Carlisle and Cumbria back on the map.'

A new-look airport would allow freight to be flown into Carlisle and then transported across the country by road using Eddie Stobart wagons. And once the infrastructure is in place, Mr Tinkler believes passenger flights would also be on the cards.

Mr Tinkler said: 'There has been a lot of talk about the length of the runway but 1800 metres is long enough for freight and passenger travel. The runway at Blackpool airport, for example, is 1870 metres long, while London City Airport, which can take up to 100-seater aircraft, is just 1199 metres.'

He identified two options to bring the Crosby-on-Eden airfield's runway up to international standards. One option would be to strengthen and resurface the existing 1,800 metre runway, which badly needs upgrading. The second option would be to build an extended, second runway which would run parallel to the first.

Used to have regular scheduled services to/from Heathrow in late '60s. (Autair Herald as far as I remember)

carlisle airport
 

anyone have any news on (cax) carlisle eddie stobbart bought it
last i heard he wanted to update it and start fraight and passenger services how is he getting on it would be good to see fr or ezy start
a route from stn its a much needed north west airport

Getting there,
 

Hi, I have attached a quote from our local Friday paper as to the upto date news about Carlisle Airport.

All wording is borrowed from 'The Cumberland News / News & Star'


A link can also be found here http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/vi...aspx?id=389844



Regards:ok:

AG

I visited the Carlisle air museum (several very interesting exhibitions in the museum by the way) last year and went over to the airport to have a look round. There was an RAF SeaKing crew in having some lunch, they were on their way to an air show, as was the Utterly Butterly wing-walking team - quite a novelty to see them. The bar area is underneath the control tower and everybody seemed friendly enough. If you go into the "beer garden" you get a very good view of the runway and also the approaches. I had a look in the window of the terminal and it was so quaint! There are 3 (I think) check in desks, maybe half a dozen baggage trolleys and 4 or so proper airport bench seats. It's like somebody has shrunk a terminal to fit inside the portable building. Unfortunately since there were no commercial flights operating I couldn't get a closer view but I would imagine the facilities would have to be upgraded if a regular passenger service became a reality.

CARLISLE
 

Another false dawn ??

Either resurfacing the main runway with an acceptable PCN, or starting a fresh with meaningfull TODA etc is serious money.

Does the business case justify it, even in these boom times for aviation travel using LCCs.

The best hope Carlisle has is probably with FLYBE once things settle down in 2007.

EGNC
 

Let us hope it is not another false dawn. There have been a few in the last 30 years.
Resurfacing with new foundations will not be easy - it is however critical for success.
West Cumbria must be one of the most remote parts of England for air transport and should welcome the propect of venture.

Purley speculative but if all goes ahead what could be made to work and by whom? I'd like to think

Flybe:
Belfast city and Dublin daily and Gatwick 3 X daily.

KLM:
Daily to Amsterdam.

I.e another Norwich

As one of the previous airport managers at Carlisle (no comment about the previous owner!!) I am delighted that things seem to be going forward there.

There have been plans for the development for a number of years and these have been added to, expanded, modified by many people including myself during my time there.

The runway in its present state can just about take a small busjet and that is the limit. The ATC needs completely revamping as does the airfield lighting, RFFS, etc. etc.....

My regards to all concerned and especially the staff - those that are left anyway!!

:ok:

Think about it guys?

MAN about 2 hours drive away, NCL about the same and GLA about 1hr 30 mins away.

There is not enough potential demand, therefore there will not be a tremendous will to get Carlisle up to scratch for commercial flights! It would cost one hell of a lot of money which simply wouldnt be justified. its a nice idea though!

From the Carlisle News and Star:
HAULAGE giant Eddie Stobart is to switch its entire operation to Carlisle airport, a move that will result in the city’s Kingmoor Park complex increasing by 17 acres. Kingmoor boss Brian Scowcroft this week sealed a deal to buy Eddie Stobart’s Kingstown Industrial Estate site from Andrew Tinkler, owner of parent company WA Developments. The deal will also push forward plans to transform the airport into an international freight and passenger terminal, which is considered key to the county’s economic future. The Eddie Stobart site, which borders Kingmoor, will give the industrial estate an extra 328,433 sq ft of warehouse space.
Mr Tinkler, chairman of WA Developments and chief executive of Eddie Stobart said: “We are very happy to have concluded the sale of our Kingstown facility to Kingmoor Park Properties. The proceeds from the sale will strengthen our two-year strategy to develop Carlisle Airport into an international freight and passenger terminal and will allow us to re-locate all of our businesses there. The new infrastructure will hopefully serve to attract other businesses into the region. The investment reinforces our commitment to Cumbria, which I believe will massively benefit the local economy. The relocation will tie in with the two-year redevelopment of the airport which is currently underway.”
Kingmoor Park chief executive Tony Goddard said: “The completion of this deal couldn’t be more timely given the recent good news about the Carlisle Northern Development Route (CNDR). We have created a serious amount of jobs at Kingmoor Park because it is an excellent location. The realisation of the CNDR enables us to build on that advantage and develop Kingmoor Park to its fullest extent. Our development land and our new acquisition adjacent to Kingmoor Park East will benefit enormously from a strengthened transport infrastructure. We can also kickstart our hub project for retail, office, restaurant and leisure facilities, which has already received planning permission but needed confirmation of the CNDR.”
Under the deal, Kingmoor Park has bought a 125-year ground lease from WA Developments. The freehold of the site is still owned by Carlisle City Council. Mr Tinkler, who already has an executive jet based at the airport, took over Eddie Stobart Ltd with his business partner William Stobart in 2003.

How close is Blackpool to Carlisle, I am sure it is closer than Manchester, Newcastle or Glasgow

Plus Blackpool has had dealings with freight operations before, i.e Emerald, so why spend copious amounts of money on Carlisle when Blackpool is down the road

According to Michelin, distances from Carlisle city to airports are:
Blackpool 162km 1h46
Glasgow 164km 1h54
Manchester 205km 2h13
Newcastle 96km 1h15

I think CAX dose has potential, if a london flight was to start (hopefully not by someone like eastern withtheir business only prices) it could be marketed as a short break destination owing to its proximity to the lakes and south west scotland. No one is going to fly london to NCL, hire a car drive 60 miles along the A69 to carlisle then a further 20 miles into the lakes for a night in a B&B, but an hour from LGW or LTN might be tempting.

It could at least grow to the size of HUY given the size of catchment, which cant be a bad thing. Freight could pay for the runway and pax facilities.

"KLM:
Daily to Amsterdam."

Wouldn't KL expand into other, more established UK airports long before CAX, if they expand at all?

SEN has been rumoured. Surely BFS, INV, DSA etc would all make more sense than CAX?

NWI-BHD had to be pulled - CAX might be a shorter sector, but is there demand? A London feeder might work if onward connections were also available, but this would really need to be LHR, and I can't see that happening without a 3rd runway at the very least. Compare the WCML with current LON security lines, and I think potential is limited further. Leisure opportunities tend to be south of Carlisle, and therefore more easily accessible by train to Penrith, Oxenholme etc.

If the freight flights mean that the runway upgrade is viable in its own right, then there have to be some routes which might work, but I can't see passenger flights on their own providing much ROI. Besides DUB, would somewhere like SOU work, or are we still looking pretty thin at both ends?

Lets get some sense of perspective here.

1) The runway, navigational facilities and infrastucture at Carlisle are in an extremely piss poor state. To cope with freight on a major scale the runway needs to be rebuilt and lengthened by 300m, not just resurfaced. New Lighting and an ILS would have to be installed, along with refurbishment and expansion of ground handling facilities, and , if you want pax operations, the terminal - a total bill of at least £25m or more.

2) There is insufficiant demand within the local catchment area for any scheduled passenger services from Carlisle, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out that despite Newcastle being 60 or so miles away, they'll always offer a better deal to anyone who wishes to travel to London, Europe or beyond.
There is now a reasonable, albeit expensive train service to London, and although quicker, there'd never be the financial justification for a scheduled service to London - even if it was to Heathrow or Gatwick for interline purposes.

All credit for Stobart's new owners for mooting the idea, but I doubt they'd be able to raise or justify the investment to bring the place up to a standard where potential freight or passenger airlines would even look at the place.

Defeatist Nonsense

Nobody has even mentioned Dumfries and surrounding area but there are two families on our row of 6 houses alone that travel regularly to Carlisle/Dumfries.I would travel more by air if there was a choice.

I have no doubt whatsoever that a regular service South would do just fine given half a chance.

I'd probably move there too for a decent flying job.Anybody know of anything? ( Experienced jet Capt.)

Nice idea, shame about reality!
 

There is virtually no chance of Carlisle being developed for freight. It's in entirely the wrong place. Most freight into the UK (and more arrives than leaves) is heading for consumers. Most of them don't live in the Borders/Lake District (only the fortunate few). The UK's freight hubs will always be south rather than north, east rather than west.

CAX as a stop off?
 

Oban is under development at the moment. How about a 2 daily OBN-CAX- London and back? Two new(ish) airports get a London service in one trip! DND-CAX-BRS another? Those sorts of routes could give Carlisle something to build on for starters?:ok:

CAX - Carlisle Plans
 

Cumbrian tourist officials have backed plans that would see a new terminal building and improvements to the runway at Carlisle airport. At present the airport is used by light aircraft and for training flights, but since being bought by Andrew Tinkler, the chairman of Eddie Stobart, the Cumbrian-based haulage firm, plans have been submitted to improve facilities.

The BBC REPORTS that Cumbrian Tourism chairman, Eric Robson, would support any improvements as he said it was vital the region had an international standard airport claiming Cumbria was missing out claiming "Devon and Cornwall have overtaken us with air links to many UK cities".


Last year Ryanair said it would be interested in operating flights from Carlisle as long as the infrastructure, customer base and pricing made it viable.

The Airport is now run/owned By Stobart Air Ltd
who run/own Eddie Stobart (Road Haulage).
Carlisle Airport

Stobart Air Ltd
Carlisle Airport
Carlisle
Cumbria
CA6 4NW

Well it would be unlikely that the local Tourism organisation would be against improving access, and similarly Ryanair are going to make the right sort of noises when approached by the local media.

Still an awful long way to go (and a lot of money to be spent) before we see any thing significant happening.

Carlisle
 

Stobart Air Services, the owners of Carlisle Airport have submitted plans for a £25 million investment including new runway and terminal buildings to commence passenger flights to London, Belfast, Dublin and Amsterdam to start with.
The airport is situated approx 40 mins by road from Keswick and the Northen Lakes and 20 minutes up the M6 to Gretna and the Scotish Boarders.
Is this seen as a good plan or will pax use the facilities at NCL, only 45 minutes drive away?
I think the airport has a great regional future and low cost carriers could see all year round traffic. I could be similar to NQY, EXT, INV if the plan comes off.
Good luck

Eddie Stobarts plan to Convert Carlisle Airport into a passenger and freight hub
 

Seems to be moving the main runway too.......... think that will bring the approach off past the village of Houghton and to the North of Carlisle, and Brampton the other way.

Details here

http://www.carlisleairport.co.uk/documents/Brochure.pdf

Can someone explain why they want to build a new runway and reorientate it by 3.5 degrees instead of just resurfacing the existing one. (the new runway would be of similar length so that can't be the reason). Anyone care to punt a guess as to why.

Possibly as a requirement to getting planning permission, as it will shift the approach paths away from the city to the north and the town Brampton too

Possibly because the bearing strength of the existing runway is insufficient?

Present NDB to 07 goes through or very close to D510?

Easier building a new runway rather than sorting out the current runway for commercial flights?

Don't know why you would the orientation would be changed other than to avoid built up area and negate the environmental impact but the PCN on the existing runway was very low indeed making it unusable for all but the smallest aircraft.