Plymouth Airport to Close

[starrymarkb]

Probably inevitable given the short runways (can't take anything bigger then a Dash 8-300) and the loss of the Gatwick services. The airport has been worth more as land for re-development for a while.

Plymouth City Airport is to close in December, its owner has announced.

Sutton Harbour Group blamed the economic downturn and "challenges for the UK regional aviation market".

It said the airport, which employs 56 people, had suffered "significant losses in recent years" and was facing a £1m loss over the next year.

Air SouthWest axed its service to London Gatwick in February, meaning fewer than 100 people were flying out of Plymouth every day.

'High cost'

Sutton Harbour Group, which owns the airport leasehold, said it had worked with freeholders Plymouth City Council, but "no viable solution has been found".

Nigel Godefroy, chief executive of the Sutton Harbour Group, said: "Plymouth City Airport, like many regional airports in the current environment, is unviable as a commercial enterprise.

"This has been an incredibly difficult decision given the efforts by so many, including our own staff, to give the airport a future.

"We have always fought for Plymouth's air links and sought to do our best for the city and its people, our employees and shareholders, but the usage of the airport simply does not support the high cost of operation."

Staff have been told it is too early for an exact timetable on redundancies, but the company said it would keep them informed as the process evolved and would support them in every way it reasonably could.

Staff at the airport, who were told about the closure at a meeting on Thursday morning, said they were "gutted".

A fireman based at the airport, who did not want to be named, said it had been a "total shocker" and the closure would make Plymouth much less attractive for businesses.

The Sutton Harbour Group took over operation of the airport in 2000 and went on to launch Air Southwest in 2003.

New destinations were added including London City Airport, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cork and Grenoble.

But Air Southwest was sold to Eastern International Airways in November 2010 and loss-making routes, including London Gatwick, were axed.

Tim Jones, chairman of Devon and Cornwall Business Council, said rival airports at Newquay in Cornwall and Exeter would benefit from the closure, but Plymouth needed an airport too.

"It's an international city, it has international ambitions with international businesses. Plymouth needs an airport for its future."

He said a new era of shorter take-off and landing planes and helicopters could make the airport viable.

"We need to find a way to preserve the asset because once it's gone there's no going back," he said.

Eastern Airways, which also flies out of Newquay, said closing the airport was "disappointing for Air Southwest and for Plymouth" but it provided "much-needed clarity after a difficult and protracted period of uncertainty".


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The airport has been loss making for a very long time and Sutton Harbour has been wringing its hands over this for months.

What's certain to happen now is that there will be a row over whether Sutton Harbour has really done enough to establish that the airport is unviable.

The council and the business community will fight desperately to see whether there's any way it can be preserved as an airfield rather than be developed for another use such as housing.

Plymouth is a city that risks losing not only its airport, but its football team.

These things are very important totems

 

[Ivo]

Very few cities in this country the size of (or larger than) Plymouth do not have their own airports, or otherwise one within 20 miles. Stoke is one, Hull is another; but the number is very small. It is already in an awkward corner of the country so to lose one of its principal ways in or out is disastrous. Supposing ferry traffic took a turn for the worse as well? Yes, we might not complain, but the bigger picture would suggest a city that is dying. I am however somewhat surprised by the number of employees; even before its regeneration Southend employed over 1,000.

And regarding the football club...

One will replace it. They always do in larger areas. It would just require a few years to get back to the League. But for a city the size of Plymouth to have no representation any higher than (presumably) the Southern League would be unthinkable. Not so long ago, Home Park was in line for a mass-expansion (until Sepp Blatter had his dirty way anyway). And the only place I can think of whose size is even close to Plymouth to not have a League team is Warrington - deep in Rugby League territory and with the top two in the country within 20 miles or so.
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Ouch, only 1,161 metres of runway? I knew it was small, but...!

Why couldn't it be expanded? If Southend could with a pretty limited space available, why can't a far more open plot such as Plymouth?

 

[rail-britain]

Why couldn't it be expanded?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...50.422765,-4.108758&spn=0.013671,0.02459&z=15
There is virtually no room to extend the runways, without major issues and costs being incurred
The next issue is the terrain leading to those runways, as the airport is built on a slight hill, and this is quite obvious when you look at Tavistock Road

It is sad that the airport will close, but with uncompetitive fares due to the small aircraft it was inevitable
I had planned to travel by plane a few years ago, but ended up taking the train by First Class, although taking me an extra six hours but more relaxing

The final issue is when the airport only has one main operator
However, it is difficult to attract other operators when previous operators have tried and then withdrawn

 

[starrymarkb]

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Ouch, only 1,161 metres of runway? I knew it was small, but...!

Why couldn't it be expanded? If Southend could with a pretty limited space available, why can't a far more open plot such as Plymouth?

It's a very restricted site with houses on 3 sides, there were plans to lengthen Rwy31 to the east (though the now mostly empty industrial estate) which might have seen Q400 operations (still no bigger jets)

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&s...1398,-4.105539&spn=0.019031,0.038409&t=h&z=15

A while ago they wanted to buy Exeter Airport, close it and then use the land sale to build a new airport near the A38 South of Ivybridge to replace Plymouth Airport - However the owners of Exeter decided not to sell (probably sensibley as in the meantime Flybe have gown massively (both in terms of flights and employees with their HQ, Maintenance, Training Acadamy all based at Exeter)

 

[DavidBrown]

Doesn't come as a suprise at all really. It's similar to Newquay Airport in a way in that it serves a sparsely populated area (yes, Plymouth is a sizeable city, but what else is there in the area that justifies an airport?) and has little purpose as a standalone airport. Newquay at least had the RAF base until recently, and has a much larger runway. Exeter's expansion will also have put a nail in Plymouth's coffin - it's less than a hour's drive away (which in this area is not a lot).

 

[starrymarkb]

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel...closure-a-sign-of-things-to-come-2276386.html

Interesting to note that Flybe are now doing holiday flights to Exeter for German Tourists aswell...

 

[Zoe]

Very few cities in this country the size of (or larger than) Plymouth do not have their own airports, or otherwise one within 20 miles. Stoke is one, Hull is another

Plymouth and Hull are also two of the largest cities that don't have motorways.
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Exeter's expansion will also have put a nail in Plymouth's coffin - it's less than a hour's drive away (which in this area is not a lot).

Exeter though does not offer flights to London. If Newquay ever closes in the future then a long drive or train journey will be the only options.

 

[rail-britain]

Plymouth and Hull are also two of the largest cities that don't have motorways

Inverness is one that always surprises me, not the kind of place you expect to have an airport with as much traffic as it does
In the past people had to travel to either Aberdeen, Edinburgh, or Glasgow to then commence their flight
The budget airlines have now filled that gap, as a result BA had to completely revise the type of aircraft they operated to/from Inverness, almost comparable to what was previously operating to/from Aberdeen

 

[starrymarkb]

The motorway network does come a lot closer to Hull though - 15 miles out from the centre, would probably be relativly easy to upgrate. The A38 west of Exeter would be rather more difficult both in terms of Gradients and curvature (really wouldn't like to try and fit a Motorway alignment though Buckfastleigh - the A38 is a very tight squeeze with some sharp bends).

Apparently the Landing Fees/Parking at PLY were pretty steep when compared with Exeter/Newquay

 

[50Fan91]

The motorway network does come a lot closer to Hull though - 15 miles out from the centre, would probably be relativly easy to upgrate. The A38 west of Exeter would be rather more difficult both in terms of Gradients and curvature (really wouldn't like to try and fit a Motorway alignment though Buckfastleigh - the A38 is a very tight squeeze with some sharp bends).

And can you imagine them trying to upgrade Telegraph Hill to motorway status? It would probably be more cost effective to remove the entire hill!

 

[starrymarkb]

And can you imagine them trying to upgrade Telegraph Hill to motorway status? It would probably be more cost effective to remove the entire hill!

I think you mean Haldon (Telegraph is on the A380).

Only way I can see a Motorway going through (and remaining under the 4% Motorway spec) is in Tunnel!

 

[Zoe]

And can you imagine them trying to upgrade Telegraph Hill to motorway status? It would probably be more cost effective to remove the entire hill!

Telegraph Hill is not on the A38(T). With the exception of the Haldon area the A38(T) is near motorway standard as far as Drumbridges near Newton Abbot. The section from Lee Mill to Plymouth is also near motorway standard.
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Only way I can see a Motorway going through (and remaining under the 4% Motorway spec) is in Tunnel!

You wouldn't need a tunnel, just put it in a cutting from the A380 split so that it slowly rises to meet the Chudleigh bypass at ground level. Once that is done it's just a case of blocking off a few of the side turnings and you have a motorway to Drumbridges. West of Drumbridges though you'd need I think to build a new road to Lee Mill. If you class a road as a motorway you also need to provide an alternative route for prohibited traffic. You'd need a new road to be built between Chudleigh and the A379 at Exeter to cover this.

 

[Class41]

An alternative to all this talk of upgrading to a motorway, perhaps NR, along with the Government, could think about an alternate route where we could go faster than 80 for most of the way - perhaps use the money they are thinking of spending on yet another upgrade from London to Birmingham - it's time we had a slice of the pie down in the SW.

 

[50Fan91]

I think you mean Haldon (Telegraph is on the A380).

I must admit that I tend to think of that whole area around the A380/A38 junction as Telegraph Hill, for no reason that I can readily come up with! (I know what I mean, even if nobody else does!) :roll:

 

[DavidBrown]

I definately think that if Plymouth was to get a better, faster transport link, then upgrading the railway would definately be the way to go - mainly because there's very little point in upgrading the A38. The road is never congested - ever, so there's no need whatsoever to upgrade a perfectly adequate dual carriageway to a 3 lane motorway, which would inevitably cost billions and create massive scars through the landscape given the alignments you'd need to bring it up to motorway standard.

What the A38 does need is improvements to some of the junctions - having tiny little side roads and even driveways joining a major road is not ideal. You could also complete the dual carriageway links on the other side of the Tamar (between Saltash and Bodmin) to provide a proper alternative to the A30 into Cornwall.

 

[Zoe]

It's all very well saying the A38(T) isn't busy but if people don't invest in Plymouth then it won't be busy and people are reluctant to invest in Plymouth due to lack of good transport links and so it goes on. If you upgrade the A38(T) from Saltash to Bodmin you will encourage more Cornish traffic to use it and then it could get quite busy and the Tamar Bridge and Saltash Tunnel would be the weakest link. It should also be noted that motorways do not have to be three lanes. I'd also give priority to A30(T) Temple to Higher Carblake and Carland Cross to Chiverton Cross over any Cornish A38(T) upgrade. These two upgrades were approved by the government back in 2003 and would have likely been completed by now had the unelected South West Regional Assembly not stepped in and blocked them.

 

[starrymarkb]

Lot of rumours going around about this being Sutton Harbour's plan from the start, with allegations of price rises and new operators being denied access.

 

[rail-britain]

Back to Plymouth Airport
Still nothing official on their website, or that of their operators, in relation to the closure notice

What is the source of the original quote?

However, there is a notice on the London Stock Exchange, which is where I presume BBC obtained its story

 

[Mojo]

However, there is a notice on the London Stock Exchange, which is where I presume BBC obtained its story

Or also from the website of the owners of the airport

http://www.sutton-harbour.co.uk/news.asp?NewsID=168

 

[bb21]

Is anyone on here interested in having a ride from Plymouth airport before it closes? Fares to Bristol for late summer starts from £39. We can get a cheap AP down there.

 

[starrymarkb]

am tempted
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am tempted

Actually slight problem - the Bristol flight is 6am!

Overnight accomodation might be required

 

[bb21]

am tempted
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Actually slight problem - the Bristol flight is 6am!

Overnight accomodation might be required

Yes and the return journey's in the evening. I guess whichever way we do an overnight accommodation would be required.