Quote......Our airline partner, Loganair, has taken the difficult decision to suspend its air link from Carlisle Lake District Airport to Dublin Airport from 23 March and until 31 May.

Loganair (www.loganair.co.uk) has strongly advised that its affected customers manage their booking through its website as the company is experiencing exceptionally high call volumes into its call centres.

System wide reduction

BHD and SEN suspended from 27/03

https://www.loganair.co.uk/our-story...port-suspended

suggest they might also be a long time in returning, if ever!

Never imagined this would be the reason when forecasting last year! So sad.

Funny old world..thing is..which ..if any airports will survive this disaster?

Please let's not get carried away here. Air transport will continue when this is over.

The BHD numbers always in low 20's so yes let's not get carried away

https://polaris.brighterir.com/publi...r73eovx/export

So, what does this mean for the terminal/HQ building? Already being rumoured that Loganair aren't returning.

The way I read it, they've got the land, they don't need the airport anymore. :*

It makes very gloomy reading.

I supported the Loganair flights a number of times between July and until lockdown - even getting to be on 'hello again' terms with the hosties. It's a real shame. I still think SEN was the wrong airport (it needed LCY really to be competitive on journey times with the train) and a codeshare with EI on DUB too. And my dreams of a KLM link with AMS are on record...

So is CAX no longer open for commercial traffic and the Loganair routes gone regardless of covid

The airfield is NOTAM'd closed until 20 August, no indication when it will re-open. Only flying is by residents with out of hours exemptions.

Wasnt that always the Plan, I wonder? Just happened earlier due to Covid.

Any further news re a Carlisle re opening?

Aviation taking a massive hit.Airports like this were always going to suffer..but post COVID..it’s not just the smaller ones in fear?

Nobody knows and we can but speculate.

Those in the know..how does Stobarts and their problems affect Carlisle?

Stobart invested in a distribution centre. The terminal was never a going concern even in the “good days” and was just a ruse to get planning permission for their distribution centre.

Is the airport still open for GA?

Airfield is NOTAM'd closed until 20 August. Only residents with exemption certificates should be operating.

Airfield still closed until 20 August and Stobart have now sold Stobart Rail. Will there still be a use for the new HQ building which includes the terminal?

Sadly..it was always doubtful this venture would ever work.

With the onset of COVID 19 and connected problems to all industries..it’s come earlier than most expected?

Still a great little light aviation airport.

Still shut to visitors

To be fair, figures on BHD and DUB were decent, and SEN was picking up. Covid to blame though

The question should be how many passengers were needed to pay for the passenger operation at the airport including the fire cover? The airport even had free parking.

Called in at Carlisle airport today.

Not quite a ghost town as terminal open,warm and airy. However not a jot happening..no people...no aircraft and not many Stobarts trucks!

Any Cumbrian locals have any update ..other than 20th August for a reopening?

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....bdacebcbca.jpg
August 20th? Nothing's been said by Stobart that I'm aware of. The only information offered to potential customers as well as to those responsible for chucking £millions in public funds to Stobart's airport venture is a terse blue banner on the CAX website. How generous of Stobart to deign to be so communicative.
And though Logan Air wishes me as a, uh, 'Clan Member' to book now for a discounted flight from one unspecified departure point to an unknown destination, Carlisle does not feature anywhere in its list of departure airports.
Local Press has no interest in the airport nor in much else since being bought out by Newsquest, a giant group seemingly dedicated solely to the further dumbing down of UK print media.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....eb76723d6b.jpg

Not sure exactly how closed the airport is, it appears that a P180 Avanti just arrived from Nice (heard it go over from the Office).

Airfield is NOTAM'd closed to 20 August - don't think that date has any significance, just three months on from the last closure date. Based a/c can get an 'out of hours' waiver, presumably selected visitors can apply for the same, though they've been few and far between. Interesting to see if that changesa for the shooting season.

Sale of Stobart Rail, whose HQ occupies most of the terminal building, may have an impact on its future use.

Depends what the lease terms were on the office building. Hopefully it's a lengthy lease, so they'll continue to contribute to the running costs for a while to come.

Assuming the new owner wants to?

One looks back with fond smile at the fallacious bilge churned out in 2019 by the demonstrably naive Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership which channeled £4,950,000 of taxpayers' money into Stobart's tinkering around with the airport runway and its creation of a terminal building offering greater benefit to itself and its employees than to airport passengers. Here's stuff to savour from a CLEP newsletter in April 2019:

"Loganair will operate eight flights per-day across the working week [oh really? Ed] and a total of 12 at weekends, connecting Cumbria and the Lake District, which receives 45 million visitors per year, to London Southend Airport, Belfast City Airport and Dublin Airport.Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership is investing £4.95m in Carlisle airport to help make improvements to its runway and the terminal, with the aim to open up more flights to and from international hubs.

""Nigel Wilkinson, board member of the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “The opening up of new air routes into Cumbria, providing more direct access to attractions and the county’s newest UNESCO World Heritage site, is a boost for the visitor economy here. Cumbria LEP is contributing £4.95m to help the airport improve its runway and terminal, an important investment which will enable flights to and from Carlisle and provide wider global access via international hubs.”

"Jonathan Hinkles, managing director of Loganair, said: “We’re delighted to become the first operator at the new Carlisle Lake District Airport, and will be opening up Loganair’s services to a whole new range of customers. With frequent services on each of the three routes, we have every confidence that these new flights will transform access to and from the Lake District for many thousands of customers each year.”Gill Haigh, managing director of Cumbria Tourism, said: “The new flights from Carlisle Lake District Airport will be a major boost for Cumbria’s connectivity and our £2.72billion tourism industry. We welcomed 45 million visitors to the county last year, but a large proportion were day trippers to the Lakes. Our marketing strategy has a key focus on encouraging visitors to stay in the county as a whole."

Kate Willard, head of corporate projects at Stobart Group, said: “Stobart Group is committed to delivering a brilliant air travel experience across the UK and Ireland. We are therefore delighted to be announcing flights with Loganair connecting London, Belfast and Dublin with Carlisle and the Lake District.

“There is huge demand from London, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to visit Carlisle, which is home to major businesses and serves as a gateway to the Lake District, two UNESCO World Heritage Sites and South Scotland.”

(Note: this is the same Kate who continues to preside over the vapid nonsense which Stobart's Southend airport website has to say in relation to Willard's assertion about the "huge demand" that exists for Carlisle as a place worth visiting.

Says Stobart Southend about Stobart's beloved Carlisle, "top pick" is: "Located on the western side of the city, the Union Terrace Gardens are large sunken gardens that can be found near His Majesty’s Theatre. Dating back to Victorian times, this pretty park has a variety of trees, flowers, and grassy areas as well and has an old viaduct located on one end. With a number of statues scattered through the gardens, keep an eye out for Scottish poet extraordinaire Robert Burns, Braveheart’s William Wallace and Prince Albert."

You'd need more than a good eyesight to see any of that: Union Terrace Gardens and His Majesty's Theatre are 229 miles away. . in Aberdeen. Good though that Stobart's has so great and genuine an interest in the life and times of Carlisle. None of which, of course, has anything to do with that £5 million bung..

Kate's got the map downside up.
CAX is 7 miles EAST of Carlisle city centre.

Wasn't the 'bung' match-funded, so maybe not that great a deal by Stobart

It’s easy after the event? However one or two of us were on here long,long ago telling anyone who would listen..it won’t work,it never did work and never could.
COVID subsequently has changed the aviation industry..probably for ever.

Hindsight..yep no one really forecast the disastrous COVID epidemic..how ever, we did forecast a sad ending for the magnificent plans for The airport.

What a waste of taxpayers money.Questions regardless of COVID need to be asked?

Never mind Kate is still earning her hard earned salary with other airports in her portfolio..Southend and Teesside?.beware!

When was she last seen at Teesside?

So is it game over officially closed. A shame as the BHD loads always in double fiqures. Told by crew that BHD and DUB did very well. A shame if it is gone.

Nothing official, but no encouraging signs.

Statement by Carlisle Lake District Airport on Facebook this evening:

Carlisle Lake District Airport continues to feel the impact of the global pandemic, with aviation one of the sectors hardest hit. The understandable decision by many airlines to cease operations for several months has seen a significant reduction in operations and bases closed across the country.
This situation, which affects many regional airports across the UK, is of course deeply disappointing for all involved but as a result of this backdrop, Carlisle Lake District Airport is unable to resume passenger operations at this time.
We are committed to making Carlisle Lake District Airport a success and are currently working on our recovery plan to reopen the airport for General Aviation, Business Aviation and Military traffic, we will post further updates as this timeline becomes clear

So - its not over. Yet.

Note that the Facebook statement makes no reference to the return of scheduled passenger operations.

We're playing with words here, but the use of "unable to resume passenger operations at this time", also doesn't exclude them at some point in the future....

Loganair / Nyxair returning to Carlisle seems very unlikely this year...and even spring 2021 looks pretty dubious

Loganair have no plans currently to return ‘by all accounts’ Shame, I think they could have slowly built a niche little operation. Pre covid it may have been a use it or lose it scenario though.