LYDD AIRPORT
 

Have you heard that lydd has upgraded to Lydd Approach and now has an ILS/DME and NDB/DME procedure !:D

any thoughts ?

Regards

is it really worth it though ? for a out of the way GA field

Yes.........why?!!

Lydd, like Manston is at the edge of the known world with
no significant catchment area. Manston has been far better equipped than
Lydd for years and still can't attract worthwhile traffic.

tilewood

You will be surprised how much traffic is going into lydd now days
it is really taking of.

since its upgrade to Tower and Approach a fair ammount of biz jets and other larger stuff are making an appearence.

it has nothing to do with equipment the fact that traffic can not be attracted, there is a lot more to it.

How about nicely situated between Dover/Folkstone and Hastings/Bexhill and convenient for cross channel flights? What do you want, re-open Lympne?(London/Ashford; '748's every 30min or so to Paris/Beauvais)
In any case, haven't you noticed the NOTAM's about the occasional non-availability of some facilities at Manston?

chevvron

The trouble is, you're about 20 minutes away from Ashford International, convenient for cross channel trains....

I'm well aware of that having done a shuttle last year, but the point is it's a very popular sunday jaunt for PPLs in SE England is to pop over the channel by air for lunch, you get such a better view than from below the waves.

surely the main problem from a commercial , is its to close to france. the object of air travel being to travel greater distances and faster, than by other transport means (car / ferry / combined). not to mention from a reasonable populated area.

Yes I often use to bimble along the coast from EGHI for the 1p per kilo gw landing fee and a good coffee and butty. used to be good practise tracking all the vor's along the way etc.

But I always had trouble spotting the bloody place, its so flat and desolate out there.

Whatever the reality, good luck London East / Ashford International or even just Lydd

A really great airfield nowadays much smartened up with a good restaurant extremely good value landing fees and a warm welcome.The airfield deserves to do well and should at least attract instrument training traffic there is a real shortage of available procedures in the south.Good luck Lydd it deserves all our support we need more not less airfields.:ok:

it has come a long way and they have spent a significant ammount of money on it ....many million!

as far as i am aware it has state of the art new equipment

also instrument training fees are cheap @ £15 for ils/ dme approach + 1 touch and go.

bonus i think.

has anyone tried the ils yet ?

NDB has new ident (LZD) 397k and is now on site.

VDF available for those of us that might be unsure of our location !

please give feedback if anyone trys Instrument approach out !
would be interested to hear , :E

helinick

Call me quizzical but it sounds like you have a vested interest in the place?? :cool:

Don't think I could afford the fuel on the long winded approaches. Let alone find the holding fix!!!

Its great to see life in the old airfield, but unless serious upgrades to infrastructure leading to the airport and the construction of several large towns. I can't see a massive future in commercial traffic.

Best of luck down there! :}

Good Old Days
 

Bring back the sixties and seventies,

When some of our out of the way airfields enjoyed the life of these times.

Every one enjoyed working hard, long hours little pay but we all had a good time,

If only we could turn back the clock.

Before security came into being

The CAA would help the small operators.

The good old word if only whese days were still here i know some of us have been in aviation a long time but seeing the ups and downs of avitions the sixities and seventies were some of the good old days.:ok: :ok:

I noticed in a national broadsheet that Eurostar have plans to halve the number of international rail services from Ashford. ....What has that got to do with Lydd airport I hear you say? Well that is my question.....Will this have an impact on the airport trying to sell itself for future growth?
Ashford as a town was looking to capitilise on the rail link for economic growth, and with that nearly doubling its population, thus increasing an already small catchment. :8

Eurostar
 

Cut to Continent but increased and improved to London.
<38 minutes from 2009
Now that really does make a difference..

Eurostar have to allow for stops at Ebbsfleet and Stratford, so something will have to give.

Lydd are talking of plans to handle upto 2m pax pa, with long term plans to go as high as 6. The blurb on their website seems to focus on turboprops and regional jets, but doesn't really explain why they'd need a runway extension for this.

It even goes into great deal about the airlines which might be interested in using it.

As a reliever to LGW, LYX has to be more promising than MSE, but I think LGW would have to get very very full before airlines really want to go so far out of the way.

I could see a scenario developing where the nimbys get there way, and capital investment on new runways at LHR or STN doesn't look likely to produce a return, and 2019 cap on LGW stays on for longer - but I think a mass defection to LYX would still be a long shot, considering how many airports London already has.

Even if high speed domestic trains make Lydd closer, do people really want a train + bus connection? LTN is bad enough as it is getting in and out of Parkway - if people are going to use public transport, there needs to be a station right underneath, or immediately outside, the terminal - and even if there are railways near to LYX, then they would need huge volumes to make the investment worthwhile.

Local market - With London Access
 

Jabird
Kent is the UK's largest county with a population of 1.3M
East Sussex poulation .5M
2001 Audit, National Statistics.
I believe that Lydd has a strong local market with London access.
Based on an assumed cost per ASK of around 5 USC I think that for many routes (around 80%) the reduced DOC based on direct track savings (both in C and $) will be attractive to those operating on industry standard low margins.
Lastly I think that colleagues in the Air Traffic sections of this BB might be able to comment on the levels/delays that LTN and STN traffic is being held down to, I guess due to Clacton??
Regards

I'm not disputing the rest of your post but Kent is only the tenth largest English county, even before Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are taken into account. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...unties_by_area

Full marks for enthusiasm though. Lydd is a nice spot and it would be good to see it work.

Kent UK's largest
 

Well, I am just interested in the potential for passengers, hence my using population rather than Sq Km,Hectares, Acres Etc.

LYX files planning application
 

After more than two and half years of environmental, traffic, economic and technical appraisal London Ashford Airport (Lydd) today filed planning applications for development. Details can be found here http://www.lydd-airport.co.uk/news.asp
And massive detail here (see links to UK planning portal, new terminal, runway, environmental statements Etc). http://www.shepway.gov.uk/content/view/200154/1652/