6000' not enough then..........?

http://http://www.shepway.gov.uk/content/view/200929/1922/

http://http://www.kentnet.org.uk/laag/Private_Eye_article_March_2010.PDF

Interesting to see the intervention of the Secretary of State, who wants any grant of permission delayed until the 22nd April; I wonder if this has anything to do with the sites of a new generation of Nuclear power stations being announced, as the building of Dungeness 2 might put a real dampener on any runway extension....

I was under the impression that dungeness had been ruled out of any future power generation plants.

Lydd Airport – Jersey flights axed : Lydd London Ashford Airport News Stories

and some further (probably inevitable) news: Kent News - Lydd airport plans called in by Government

More news from the marsh: Lydd Airport chief Jonathan Gordon steps down

Public Inquiry
 

This started last week - Looks like they will sit till July.

Lydd in Meccano Magazine
 

Found this on another thread

Found this: Go-ahead for Kent airport expansion angers green lobby - UK Politics - UK - The Independent

And this: BBC News - Lydd Airport expansion given go-ahead

Just wondering about the logistics of catching a flight from Lydd (sorry London Ashford International) if you were centsral London destined or originated. There's a nice, fast train from St.Pancras to Ashford International - 38 mins, but if that's the Eurostar(?), does that not mean you've got to give yourself another 30+ mins for check-in/screening at St.Pancras, possibly more? Then on top of that, you've got a 17 mile trip between the station and the airport - in a taxi 25 mins plus waiting time? The train might cost around £33 one way, but that taxi's going to cost you another £25 on top. Allowing for dwell times, from arriving at St.Pancras to standing at the airport check-in desk is going to take at least one hour 40 mins, plus your time from home/office to St Pancras in the first place.

Doesn't really stack up as a 'London' airport in quite the same way say Southend does now, does it?

With Gatwick up the road and Manston to the north, they'd be mad to compete on any similar routes with a catchment just a few miles up the road crossing over with theirs.

What's the business model there, what routes, airline types?

Sounds like Southend pipped them to the post! One can only suppose that they are hoping to catch the Kent and East Sussex folk who don't want to play on Gatwick's fun fair?

Lydd
 

I think the whole sceme is a total waste of time and money especially in this day of age what with ever rising APD and fuel costs and the amount of UK airports that are already struggling and with some even investing in nice new terminals such as BOH so how on earth are the developers of Lydd Airport going to get anyone flying from their nice new shiny airport, I think they are crazy.

But it will be interesting to see what airline if any makes the first commitment but I can't see it happening myself what with Gatwick nearby and Manston even closer, the latter having a far better advantage of succeding in my view especially now that KLM fly from the airport.

Every cloud has a silver lining as they say, no doubt the sort of news Lydd Airport wants to hear:

Newmarket Holidays confirms it will move chartered flights from Manston to Lydd Airport as uncertainty remains over Thanet site's future

Hmm, that'll be interesting to see. Significantly shorter runway dimensions than - for example - Southend; compulsory and very demanding circling approaches most of the time when rw 03's in use; and instrument approach minima considerably higher than Manston. Expect cancellations and payload limits....

I'm not one to cast doubt on someone spending money to make a go of a business but it really does seem strange that someone would want to fly from Lydd, it's not a huge metropolis.
It's miles away from the nearest train station, unless you make one on the track to the Nuclear Power station. And would airlines want to fly from there especially in these comercially risk averse times. they would rather go from DVT, BOH, LPL etc than Lydd

In regard to the runway dimensions at Lydd - Newmarket Holidays could charter in an Avro RJ, Embraer jet, Airbus A318 or even a lightly loaded Airbus A319 to operate. The only worry for me would be the size of Lydd's current terminal, they would probably need to make some room and improve check in (if not already in place). :)

I will never understand the idea of expanding Lydd when Manston is a much more viable option.

Unfortunately the laws of physics don't change with aircraft size and when the wind requires use of runway 03, any aircraft would have to make a tight turn on to final at 300ft or less.

The only way to avoid that is to schedule all your flights to arrive at Lydd in the late evenings and/or weekends to avoid Lydd Range activity. But even that's no guarantee because it's a 24/7 range with frequent short-notice changes of activation.

Best of luck to them. They'll need it.

NS

"I will never understand the idea of expanding Lydd when Manston is a much more viable option."

But thats becuase Manston is worth alot more as building land than Lydd is.

Plus you could get all that building land for a quid.

The paradox being that land in the middle of nowhere far from population centres is not normally going to be of much value as an airport either...

I imagine that even if Boris Island were to be built and Heathrow was closed permanently, the land currently occupied by Heathrow would be really quite valuable for alternate use