Perhaps Lakeland airways is to replace the Loganair services..............time will tell

I would have thought the staycation market would have been a big boost for CAX

Loganair were perfect for this. If they cant make it work, id be surprised if anyone else could, so still hope LM would return

LM said that they won't. Anyway, the airport needs to re-open first...

Needs a longer runway to entice the lo-co airlines, then you might see staycation traffic from the London area, like the services to Newquay.

Wow, Lakeland Airways. Best equipped galleys in the universe!

Filled with gadgets you never thought you needed. Toast Tongs anyone

Buster the Bear

I thought Carlisle had a 1837m runway, which is longer than Belfast City, Southampton, Jersey - which have lo-co airlines operating out of them?

Is it all useable and are the taxiways wide enough, then you have to look at PCN strength.

There used to be a planning constraint to limit the size of a/c operating to less than 100 seats - not sure f this still applies. There would need to be significant changes needed to the office block containing the terminal if it had to handle anything larger than a Saab/Atr.

Eastern with their J41s could be a possibility. BHD and DUB were doing OK. Could maybe add a weekend NQY and IOM too. Southend really struggled against the trains though

I remember Dan Air DC3 flights to IOM in 1966.

Usable distance is the key issue - the runway is 1,829m but the LDA available is about 1,450m from either end due to displaced thresholds. I'd also heard something about a limitation on the size of aircraft as part of the planning process but not 100% sure what it is or where to find it.

It would the LDA that would be limiting at 1446m whereas TODA is 1799m, the same as SEN for example.

Not sure if this is still the correct aircraft sizes or not allowed to operate
 

SWBKCB

When permission was granted for development of the airport, it was done so under the following condition:

Quote:
Passenger and cargo fixed wing aircraft to be limited to the following types of aircraft, Jetsream 41, DHC-8Q400, ATR-42, ATR-72 and RJ146 or aircraft of equivalent characteristics in terms of size, weight, carrying capacity, noise and other polluting emissions.
While this may be changed at a later date, it rules out Ryanair ops initially.

EDIT: This was a condition of the 2013 planning approval, which was later overturned. I'm not sure if this clause was included in the final approval.

The planning application documents are here: https://publicaccess.carlisle.gov.uk...LI_DCAPR_54154. The latest decision notice, March 2019, still contains that condition.

Some of those business plans on the Carlisle planning portal and the previous applications make interesting reading.

Stobart proposed they needed a 58% load factor on an ATR (didn't specify which one) with a £49 ticket cost (before ancillary costs) to break even.

So, if it's an ATR 72 just shy of 50 people for a flight to Dublin or London? You would have thought that's doable with the right advertising and the cost of rail etc but I guess the lack of uptake by airlines over the years and success Loganair had suggests otherwise.

The plan at the time was the ATR-42.

cavokblues

In fairness the airport only re-opened in 2019, and loganair launched flights straight away. They then dropped the routes due to covid and a falling out with the airport owners.

Belfast attracted an overall average of 19 pax per flight, peaking at over 23 in August with a low of 13 in January. Obvious caveat that the last month or so would have been impacted by Covid. At that level it probably could interest Eastern, but would it pay for the airport?

Southend it’s perhaps not fair to say it was up against the train because it clearly wasn’t run as a business route. That route averaged over 15.5, high of 20 in September and low of 11 in January and February.