Carlisle Airport finally takes off today
Cumbria-based Stobart Group officially opened Carlisle Lake District Airport today.
It is the second airport owned by the biomass, transport, rail infrastructure and airline operating group, after it developed London Southend Airport.
Today’s opening follows two previous planned re-openings.
The site will initially serve three destinations, through Scottish airline Loganair, to Belfast City Airport, Dublin, and London Southend.
Carlisle will initially be a five-day a week operation, handling 28 flights a week, with no flights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
The airport was originally an RAF airfield.
At one time it had scheduled services from Heathrow. But it has had no passenger flights since 1993.
Attempts to re-start commercial operations began soon after the foot-and-mouth crisis of 2001. Eventually Stobart Group became involved and was due to start operations on June 3, 2018, but that deadline was missed because of air-traffic control issues. A subsequent plan to open in the Autumn was also shelved.
Speaking to The Independent newspaper, Kate Willard, director of partnership development for Stobart Group, said: “Last year was heartbreaking for passengers and for the team that had worked so hard to get it over the line.”
But she said regarding today: “Everything is in tip-top order.”
And she added: “Thursday is the beautiful punctuation in a lovely story about this airport and what it means to the county.”
The first flight, to Dublin, was blessed by the the Archdeacon of Carlisle, Lee Townend.
The London connection with Southend is expected to be of interest to staff working for BAE Systems at Barrow-in-Furness and the Sellafield nuclear site.
