Looking forward to trying out the new services

According to this link, the Regional Air Connectivity Fund aid was awarded to Stobart Air (the airline!) - anybody know what's happening?

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/n...-uk-and-europe

Good point. Presumably the route will be Stobart Air (operated by Loganair)?

Well it's being sold by Loganair, and Stobart don't actually sell any of their own flights.

I didnt see mention of Stobart in any of the press coverage around NI

Any concept photos of how the new terminal will look?
I see photos of the steel structure but nothing else

It will be a corrugated steel shed, probably blue, green or brown in colour, with meagre little plastic window frames. Cheap and nasty and probably a 20 year lifespan at best, IMHO.

Called Emily Jane on the front!!

No idea what that post is saying but the best Carlisle will get would be to maintain what Loganair have announced along with a handful of weekly flights to the Med. Good luck to them and I genuinely hope it works out well.

Possible of an evening for Loganair to take the seats out and do some night freight work before back the next morning.

Maybe some weekend CI flights during the summer

Regarding the post prior to yours,

I felt the same and the word ''Conbobulated'' as Blackadder would say immediately sprang to mind and if your familiar with it just imagine it being said in the sarcastic tone of Rowan Atkinson and his character :-)

The whole post comes across as if it was typed after downing a good few bevvies :-)

A couple of points:

1. While we expect talk of Med charters from the likes of EGPO, I was surprised to here it mentioned by Stobart in all the launch guff. Given the layout of the office block come terminal building which has been given planning permission, anything much larger than a Saab and they're going to have pax waiting in the board room and the HR dept!

2. anybody know what navaids/lights etc the rejuvenated runway will have? While I appreciate the Loganair Saabs operate to some remote fields, the current weekday schedule is pretty intensive, so just wondering what impact a typical Cumbrian clag will have?

Planning permission for the airport limited the type of aircraft that could operate to J41 / ATR42 or similar. There was no mention of A320/737, and I suspect handling them will not be possible even if you wanted to.

The original runway was technically 1800m, but had a large displaced threshold, making A320/737 ops impossible. I'm not sure if the new runway will have a displaced threshold or not. Even if it does, to handle a 737 will require increased fire coverage, steps, baggage loading equipment, different refueling equipment, and pushback tugs. That's before you worry about the terminal, with capacity for around 20 people.

I assume any summer charters they refer to will be on the based Saab 340, possibly a weekend flight to Paris or Amsterdam when the aircraft is idle.

I hadn’t realised the terminal was going to be so small. When I said Med flights I was thinking more along the lines of Stobart/BE Embraers or the outfit at Humberside rather than 737s.

The "terminal" is actually a headquarters building for Stobart Rail and Civils with around 180 employees based, with some rooms set aside to be used as an airport.

I think thats a slight under estimate...

It does sound all very Heath Robinson and the CAA are green lighting all this. That will be some preops audit!!

Heath Robinson? Not really, Small scale - yes, smart - yes. Stobart get two buildings for the price of one.

Its a real shame people are not really willing to give Carlisle a shout here. Its surely a good thing for the local economy. New jobs, bringing people to the area showing that Cumbria is not just full of sheep and fields. I am personally really looking forward to the airport starting services with Loganair. I am pretty sure some decent research has gone in to picking routes and who operates them otherwise why invest in the first place. Blackpool ran successful services for some time with good pax figures. If that can work then I see no reason why Carlisle could not do something similar in the future. Southend is successful and ok the airport is set up for larger aircraft and can handle more pax but its run by the same group. Surely this is provides a good outlook for Carlisle. They must be making some reasonable improvements to the field with the runways being out of action still. I am hopeful for the airport and its future growth.

I quite agree with you. Unfortunately we have many moaners and negative thinking people here. Let's all give Carlisle a chance.