Cargo flights resume from Coventry Airport after six figure deal

CARGO flights have resumed at Coventry Airport after a six-figure deal was agreed with operator Atlantic Airlines.

The agreement, which will see flights introduced to Maastricht in the Netherlands, Lille in France and Dublin, has created 16 new jobs.

Sir Peter Rigby, owner of the airport, said the move was the first step towards re-establishing Coventry as a commercially active airport once again.

“At the moment we have flying schools, business jets, general aviation and helicopter activity but signing the contract with Atlantic Airlines is an important milestone in terms of the airport moving back to where it was previously,” he said.

“Cargo services were moved to Birmingham Airport when Coventry Airport closed temporarily in December 2009 and it has been a target of mine to see these flights return to Coventry since I took over the airport last year.

“This is a positive milestone for the future of the business and a signal of our intent to continue driving Coventry Airport forward.”

Marc Watkins, business development manager at Coventry Airport, said the site’s central location in England was crucial in re-starting cargo flights.

He said: “Ten jobs have been created across the air traffic control, operation and fire departments while six jobs have been transferred from Birmingham due to the return of Atlantic Airlines.

“As a result of the resumption of cargo flights, we are already talking to other airlines to gain further business.”

Atlantic Airlines’ general manager Greg Little said he was pleased the airline was returning to Coventry, which had been its engineering base and centre of operations.

“We will be working closely with our customers and the Coventry Airport team to develop additional air cargo services now that the airport has regained the capability to support this,” he said.

Atlantic Airlines is part of the West Atlantic Group, Europe’s largest regional cargo operator.

Bespoke Distribution Aviation (BDA), which is chartering the majority of space on these flights, has moved all of its UK operational services to Coventry Airport.

BDA specialises in next day delivery of time critical spare parts from sectors such as medical, agriculture, hi-tech and the material handling industries.