Airport.

todayistheday said:
Looking into a joint venture with Fylde to purchase old links and build new runway.
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And who’s going to pay for that? It won’t be the council they closed it in 2014 for losing just £2m a year a new runway and infrastructure and don’t forget we no longer have a terminal these days would cost £75-£100m.
If the council are hoping for a magic wand and someone coming in to do it then it’s going to be a long wait it doesn’t happen like that.
The council destroyed the airport when they closed it and pulled down a perfectly adequate terminal that could handle 2m passengers a year (most it ever handled was 600,000 in 2009) and built a white elephant in its place an energy college that from day one has suffered from lack of students.
This has all come about since the council leader Simon Blackburn was put on gardening leave as he was the biggest hypocrite of the airport.
The only way things will prosper at Squires gate is when Blackpool finally elect a Tory council, progress is slowly being made by electing Scott Benton who outed Gordon Marsden but until it controls the council nothing’s going to change it’s all a pipe dream.
For years we have lobbied for the airport to reopen to commercial traffic but for years we have talked on deaf ears the only councillor who supports us is Tony Williams Blackpool conservative leader, and all 3 Fylde coast Conservative MP’s coincidence?
We’ve even held several high profile meetings on the future of the airport MP’s Councillors, even the Northern power house minister and the only ones who never attend? Yep Blackpool controlling Labour council.
 
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Only 20% of income is generated by passenger flights at an airport. Shame it never got freeport status. Whoever is running it at present needs to be proactive and have some vision of a positive future.
 
I am sure if we could get the airport going again then the energy college building could be altered to be used as a terminal building,used to love flying to the balearics from their
 
A properly functioning international airport could do wonders for Blackpool. You only need to see some of the names of cities in Europe that EasyJet & Ryanair fly to that some of us had never heard of 10 years ago.

International visitors expecting a certain standard of accommodation, restaurants etc would improve the town so much. And add business travellers into that as well.

Pretty criminal that a tourist town doesn’t have a functioning airport, especially when there is a runway already in place.
 
What’s happening with that white elephant building that was built in place of the terminal? Was it supposed to be a fracking college or something? Just about sums up joke management of the town😫! Best thing they can do it convert it back into an airport terminal. Bet it stands empty for decades to come.
 
Pauls_Boutique said:
A properly functioning international airport could do wonders for Blackpool. You only need to see some of the names of cities in Europe that EasyJet & Ryanair fly to that some of us had never heard of 10 years ago.

International visitors expecting a certain standard of accommodation, restaurants etc would improve the town so much. And add business travellers into that as well.

Pretty criminal that a tourist town doesn’t have a functioning airport, especially when there is a runway already in place.
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It would be a major boost for the town, not just the convenience for locals to fly abroad, but overseas visitors, coming to a major tourist town.
 
A few years ago I was told Amazon were looking at purchasing the airport and loads of the land around it to use as an air freight and shipment hub. They pulled out as they were told they wouldn’t get support from the council to extend the runway (cargo planes need longer runways as they tend to be much heavier than passenger jets).

Would be a great move for the council if they went about this again in partnership with an international freight operator.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
A few years ago I was told Amazon were looking at purchasing the airport and loads of the land around it to use as an air freight and shipment hub. They pulled out as they were told they wouldn’t get support from the council to extend the runway (cargo planes need longer runways as they tend to be much heavier than passenger jets).

Would be a great move for the council if they went about this again in partnership with an international freight operator.
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Never heard of the Amazon link but Eddie Stobbart actually looked at purchasing the airport a few years ago but got fed up of all the red tape from the council so instead pulled out and purchased Carlisle airport and spent millions on a new freight distribution centre.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
A few years ago I was told Amazon were looking at purchasing the airport and loads of the land around it to use as an air freight and shipment hub. They pulled out as they were told they wouldn’t get support from the council to extend the runway (cargo planes need longer runways as they tend to be much heavier than passenger jets).

Would be a great move for the council if they went about this again in partnership with an international freight operator.
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Interesting fits in with something I heard today.
 
Jaffa_The_Hut said:
Never heard of the Amazon link but Eddie Stobbart actually looked at purchasing the airport a few years ago but got fed up of all the red tape from the council so instead pulled out and purchased Carlisle airport and spent millions on a new freight distribution centre.
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It’s a shame neither happened. Going off a quick google though it would appear for Blackpool to be a viable international freight airport the runway would need to be doubled in length. Most major international airports have runways of about 3500/4000m
 
Hazi said:
Interesting fits in with something I heard today.
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There was a rumour going around a few years ago a far eastern engineering company was looking to buy the airport to turn it in to an engineering base but nothing became of it if at all it was even true.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
It’s a shame neither happened. Going off a quick google though it would appear for Blackpool to be a viable international freight airport the runway would need to be doubled in length. Most major international airports have runways of about 3500/4000m
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There's only one way they can extend should this ever come off and that’s over Queensway, so they would have to put that under a new runway assuming they can buy the land. We live in hope.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
It’s a shame neither happened. Going off a quick google though it would appear for Blackpool to be a viable international freight airport the runway would need to be doubled in length. Most major international airports have runways of about 3500/4000m
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East Midlands after Heathrow is our main hub for air freight/cargo all the main carriers like UPS, DHL, Fed Ex, etc all operate out of their to destinations all over the world on a single runway of 2,893 metres.
 
LA1 Seasider said:
Just another 1km of tarmac needed then !
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Yes would have to go out over the moss as no room at the west end.
Would have to be a tunnel over the new runway crossing Queensway or divert the road completely.
This is what I said in an earlier comment regarding the cost it would be astronomical (£50-£75m) and who’s going to pay for it?
 
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Council bought the land to the east of the main runway and Queensway in the early 2000's, not sure if they still own it. Plan, as mentioned by others, was to extend over Queensway.

Would utilising Old Links only serve to increase the new build option on the current site?
 
Jaffa_The_Hut said:
Yes would have to go out over the moss as no room at the west end.
Would have to be a tunnel over the new runway crossing Queensway or divert the road completely.
This is what I said in an earlier comment regarding the cost it would be astronomical (£50-£75m) and who’s going to pay for it?
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For a capital project of that scale or above they would borrow. They may also get some contributions from the Government or the LEP for regeneration purposes
 
Matesrates said:
So Britain isn’t attractive to foreigners, the pleasure beach, the beach, the tower, three Piers, pubs, bars, restaurants, live shows, theatres, illuminations.
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Have to agree with FCB Blackpool is not attractive to foreign visitors, foreign visitors don’t come to the north of England to go to the seaside no matter how good Blackpool is. This is evidenced by the amount of foreign visitors that currently visit, the figures are minute.
Blackpool’s market is nearly exclusively the domestic market and the business as previously said for the airport would be flights to popular European destinations for Brits to go to, and to make it easier for people from Lancashire/Cumbria to fly from Blackpool rather than go to Manchester/Liverpool/Leeds-Bradford/Newcastle etc or possibly freight business. A few years ago when there were flights to Europe from Blackpool it would be interesting to ask the operators what percentage of passengers were Brits and what % say Spaniards from Malaga wanting to visit Blackpool, I’d bet the % of Spanish would be tiny and most of them would be using the service as a gateway into the UK and not stay in the resort.
 
The Catcher in the Rye said:
Have to agree with FCB Blackpool is not attractive to foreign visitors, foreign visitors don’t come to the north of England to go to the seaside no matter how good Blackpool is. This is evidenced by the amount of foreign visitors that currently visit, the figures are minute.
Blackpool’s market is nearly exclusively the domestic market and the business as previously said for the airport would be flights to popular European destinations for Brits to go to, and to make it easier for people from Lancashire/Cumbria to fly from Blackpool rather than go to Manchester/Liverpool/Leeds-Bradford/Newcastle etc or possibly freight business. A few years ago when there were flights to Europe from Blackpool it would be interesting to ask the operators what percentage of passengers were Brits and what % say Spaniards from Malaga wanting to visit Blackpool, I’d bet the % of Spanish would be tiny and most of them would be using the service as a gateway into the UK and not stay in the resort.
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Agree and with uncertainty surrounding future travel demand post pandemic and Brexit then investment in an airport is something of punt.
 
The Catcher in the Rye said:
Have to agree with FCB Blackpool is not attractive to foreign visitors, foreign visitors don’t come to the north of England to go to the seaside no matter how good Blackpool is. This is evidenced by the amount of foreign visitors that currently visit, the figures are minute.
Blackpool’s market is nearly exclusively the domestic market and the business as previously said for the airport would be flights to popular European destinations for Brits to go to, and to make it easier for people from Lancashire/Cumbria to fly from Blackpool rather than go to Manchester/Liverpool/Leeds-Bradford/Newcastle etc or possibly freight business. A few years ago when there were flights to Europe from Blackpool it would be interesting to ask the operators what percentage of passengers were Brits and what % say Spaniards from Malaga wanting to visit Blackpool, I’d bet the % of Spanish would be tiny and most of them would be using the service as a gateway into the UK and not stay in the resort.
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You’re probably right, but we’ve probably never marketed the resort abroad. It would be interesting to see what would happen if we did.
 
southshorepool said:
Didn't Balfour Beatty close it down as a buyer couldn't be found and hadn't some of the airlines already pulled out?
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Correct Balfour Beatty were the owners when it closed in 2014 as they held the majority of shares Blackpool Council holding the remaining.
In the latter years of ownership Balfour Beatty wanted to make the airport into a giant housing estate but due to major obstacles it wasn’t going to happen.
The council bought the airport back for £4.5m having sold it to Balfour for £13.5m and they’ve basically been trying to find a buyer ever since.
There is some good news however at the airport these days Hangar 3 have taken over the running of the G A side of things (General aviation) and business is on the up the a CAT 5 is now available (aircraft up to 33m in length) and if any in rich enough you can charter an executive jet to go anywhere you want all through Hangar 3.
Unfortunately the airport doesn’t have a terminal these days as it was butchered by the council to build that energy college which has ended up a Massive white Elephant a complete waste of space as Cuadrilla helped finance it as it was to become the centre of energy and fracking, well the rest is history as they’ve long gone.
 
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Could never understand why a relatively new terminal building was demolished at massive cost, when there are literally hundreds of other green/brown field sites within a 10mile radius?
It's not like it's proximity to anything remotely educational, or transport links are near? Very surprised if there were not brown envelopes involved.....

Blackpool Airport is not only one of the oldest airports in the UK, but the whole world. 1907 I recall seeing a plaque in the old terminal circa 1980
 
Limechase said:
Could never understand why a relatively new terminal building was demolished at massive cost, when there are literally hundreds of other green/brown field sites within a 10mile radius?
It's not like it's proximity to anything remotely educational, or transport links are near? Very surprised if there were not brown envelopes involved.....

Blackpool Airport is not only one of the oldest airports in the UK, but the whole world. 1907 I recall seeing a plaque in the old terminal circa 1980
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Completely agree the terminal was only 20 years old when it came down and was built to handle 2m passengers a year it only ever handled a quarter of that in its lifetime 550,000 being the highest figure back in 2009.
Some Blackpool councillors not only sat on the board of the airport committee but also sat on the board of Blackpool and Fylde College who built the new energy college, sounds rather iffy?
Because it sure was, they also sold off all the ground handling equipment as well GPU’s, aircraft steps, baggage trollies everything.
 
Does anyone know how the £10 Airport Development charge for all passengers over 16 years of age was used for? £4m - £6m a year is a lot of money and ironically the passengers on the last flight out of the airport in Oct 2014 were even charged!
 
Matesrates said:
So Britain isn’t attractive to foreigners, the pleasure beach, the beach, the tower, three Piers, pubs, bars, restaurants, live shows, theatres, illuminations.
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Never said Britain wasn't attractive to foreign visitors- it is. However the Fylde coast isn't. The only time they come is for the Open at Lytham.

The airport commercial flights only served a domestic customer base. Hardly any foreigners on flights back that I've seen. I'd imagine the first flight of summer would go out fullish and if it returned straight away, it would be empty.

The only attraction that Blackpool has that would entice some foreigners who are doing the 'UK' trip ie Scotland, Lakes, Cotswolds, London roundtrip would be the illuminations. Not the tower, not the beach and not the piers. And not for a special trip.

in my view the airport could have been successful with a bit more investment and increased destinations. A longer runway and the rerouting of Queensway would have gone a long way.
 
TangerineBayern said:
Does anyone know how the £10 Airport Development charge for all passengers over 16 years of age was used for? £4m - £6m a year is a lot of money and ironically the passengers on the last flight out of the airport in Oct 2014 were even charged!
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It was introduced as a charge to go towards the future development of Blackpool airport so people at first didn’t mind paying it as it was to be reinvested.

Sadly not a penny of it went back into the airport but mysteriously disappeared in a Black hole never to be seen again.

As a result Ryanair pulled out of the airport as they didn’t agree with the charges.
 
I wouldn't believe the buying Old Links story, there's already a minor runway runs that way and there's not the room to squeeze a major one in the Old Links footprint unless the planes are taxiing up St David's Rd North.
 
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