Carlisle Airport: ‘How many of those jobs actually go to local people?

By Ellis Butcher

Last updated at 12:41, Saturday, 04 August 2012

In the flatlands and fields which make up the low-lying countryside community around the airport, people were quietly going about their business as the airport approval news came through.

Have your say

scheduled fights will not work the airlines will pull out after 1 year. i fly from blackpool and its 1hour away it a great airport but they have flights pull out, it hard when u got good airports round us like manchester ect, and blackpool had ryanair flying to london it left pulled the flight so no chance carlisle,

Posted by paul on 26 February 2013 at 17:55

John I live NEAR an airfield, soon to be an industrial estate an airport would be good, I could fly to the States to see my family. I have read the reports and they don't stack up to be an airport. However if the airport did happen, I am not selfish enough to want planes to fly over the school, this could be averted if the runway was changed

Posted by CM on 9 August 2012 at 09:01

CM in answer to your question regaring the differing costs between Southend and Carlisle, perhaps you have misunderstood what is going to be built under the current planning application. i.e. a distribution centre and a new runway. The costs do not include a ATC Tower, Terminal Building, Runway Extension or a hotel, hence the difference between Â£100 milliion at Southend and Â£26 million at Carlisle.

Posted by enlightening accountant on 9 August 2012 at 08:43

June, we live next to the 2nd biggest visitor attraction in England. Some of those millions of tourists might just fancy flying here direct. Then maybe our local public transport companies might get the benefit of ferrying them down to The Lake District instead of ones from London, Manchester and Newcastle etc. Also let us not forget our World Heritage Site, Hadrian's Wall. Other airports would sell their granny to have such attractions on their doorstep

Posted by John Armstrong on 9 August 2012 at 07:09

CM. Why did you move next to an airport?

Posted by John Armstrong on 9 August 2012 at 06:50

@Ian: "Budget airlines also work from small regional airports to cut costs"

To keep those costs down though they're going to have to have minimum diversions so ILS capability will be essesntial and even small airports like Charleroi are CAT3 enabled.

I understood that Carlisle wasn't going to get ILS so it will restrict flights greatly when the weather is bad, which, if this year is anything to go by, is just about every day ...

It would be too expensive to have to divert to NCL/PIK/GLA or MAN and a nightmare for passenger dispersal and aircraft / crew positioning.

Let's hope this can be upgraded properly to include this (ILS) if we want a -real- airport. I don't think you would want to land your 737 visually when the weather is approaching limits, or, do you know another little secret ?

Cheers.

Posted by M of B on 8 August 2012 at 16:48

Budget airlines also work from small regional airports to cut costs. They are not every day and seasonally upped for tourism, check out Ryanair and some of their destinations in remote parts of Europe.

Although Cumbria and Carlisle may be remote it has good routes to the Lake District which boasts 12 million visitors per year and the Scottish Borders, I may not be a genius but it doesn't take Einstein to work out the possibilities of successfully running commercial flights from there.

Posted by Ian on 8 August 2012 at 14:38

Well said Bob.

Some people have a lack of understanding of economics, no budget airline is going to operate out of Carlisle. I'm no expert but it doesn't take a genius to work out cheap flights require high volume of passengers. We already have major airports within easy reach, sparsely populated county and a site not large enough to make it financially viable for airlines to operate at a volume required to offer cheap flights. Most we are likely to see is a couple of flights per day to cater to business travellers with company credit cards.

Some say it would boost visitors to Cumbria??? Again a sparsely populated county with poor transport links, I think most would prefer to drive.

I'm not against progress but regular cheap flights will not happen.

Posted by Towie on 8 August 2012 at 11:26

Warehouses and parking for Stobart`s trucks and trailers-definitely. Commercial flights for fresh produce to IOM and Scottish islands-maybe. Passenger flights to anywhere-start walking now.

Posted by Bob on 8 August 2012 at 08:03

If carlisle wants more business and tourists they need to advertise themselves a bit better. 25 million tourists to the lake district prove we are not a difficult place to get to so why do people think an airport is so essential. Most places and businesses are trying to improve their green credentials so encouraging london businesmen etc to travel by plane rather than by train is a backwards step rather then a step into the future.

Posted by Sarah on 7 August 2012 at 23:39