Plymouth airport / Roborough to Close

Blue Hangar

Baz that blue hangar (before it was fully completed) had a visitor (weather diversion) one Sun evening that left its visiting mark in the L/H corner !!! and D……….. jumping up and down like a lunatic in his new tower.They still only had an NDB having upgraded from a VDF, but the break off height was so high the best route in was via the “George” or “Wrigleys” below the clag.

Plymouth – Newquay !!!

In the end it all comes down to how much “subsidy” an operation gets.
Newquay has lost sqillions of pounds per year for years (projected 2011 loss 3-4 Million).
Not only that but has has huge amounts of grant money pumped in at the expense of other needs in Cornwall.Of course when you are bailed out by the Public sector (and you are the public sector) no one seems to ever be responsible for the mess, so it carries on.
Plymouth City passed this situation on to the private sector years ago (after having spent quite a lot of money on improvements).
The simple truth is no one will pay for the true cost of running an airfield that has to provide so much in the way of “approved” facilities to CAA/ EASA standards, many of which are “safety requirements”.
If the Country has difficulty in manning railways stations what chance aviation.
The problem comes with trying to make aviation a cheap option (which it is not) and even more so on relatively short internal flights.
In all fairness to SHH they tried to run an airline to carry on the Brymon/BA service, but the basic problem of costs was never going to be solved despite changes. As a potential development site (surrounded by development and complaints) the writing was on the wall years ago and the reality of the recent financial situation made the decision inevitable.
I remember some time ago being somewhat shocked to find out that Plymouth needed around 20 (on a shift basis) fire crew to satisfy the regulations regarding the size of aircraft using the field on schedule services,the trouble is the paying passenger does not want to contribute towards that.

Vested interests

I have used the airport on and off since 1978 when it wa still a wooden hut and watched it rebuilt to its present day state.I have read the other forums views for the last couple of years on the closure and SHHs protests that this would not happen !Another classic case of Plymouth councils inemptitude in serving the city (HMS Plymouth another example).I guess that the only thing to do is to get enough people in the planning application meeting to get it rejected but palms will be greased and the Plymouth mafia will win in the end.

Alarm bells were ringing when they made you redundant Baz, how badly in trouble is an airport when view that chopping the BCU as a good idea, I’d call it a dubious piece of cost cutting at best.

Now, at the risk of speaking out of turn, or indeed appearing naive, Plymouth is a pretty substantial city, lots of business’s based there as well as lots of people, it’s on main arterial routes & isn’t that far from the M5, sooooo….. if they are closing due to the “economic downturn” then what hope for Newquay Airport in the long term? Newquay is way off the beaten track, is a ghost town in the winter & suffers from high level of unemployment, the holiday season is now clipped to about 2 months of the summer at best, 180 degrees of the catchment area is in the Atlantic ocean.

I’m kind of curious to what occurs when all that grant money from the EU runs out, will my council tax be adjusted to a few a million a year to keep the show on the road?

Council in Plymouth are the landlords, the destruction of the Airport and subsequent building on it will be a quick earner.

There are some powerful people behind this.

There is a guy (still there) that could have turned it around but, he’ll never get a shot at it and I would guess its gone past the ‘tipping’ point.

Businesses around Plymouth voiced there concern over the years and some moved to Exeter. I can see more moving over the next 12 months.

No-one will jepodise their redudancy to speak up.

Sounds like SHH made the working conditions unbearable for alot of people and companies, which obviously made their intentions clear.

As you have obviously been part of the poor treatment that has been brought upon the airport employees, have you ever thought of contacting the council in Plymouth and shared all this information with them? Additionally, why not share your experience also with the likes of the BBC and other local media. You might be able to summon up support and hopefully save the airport and bring to light what a poor company SHH is.

which has been frustrating to say the least for people who do use the airport frequently

Was (is) frustrating for the people working there. Any discontent was met by bullying and, in my case, redundancy. Many employees are frightened to talk as they will lose their payouts in December. Watch what happens shortly after that.
I remember the day they doubled the rent (overnight)of a long standing and trusted company who serviced Beechcraft using the blue hangar. When I quizzed the top brass over this decision I was told “if they don’t like it, they can **** off” (exact words). Anyway, they did, to Farnborough, leaving behind an empty hangar, which remained empty for years. Same thing with the Navy grading flight, which moved to Yeovilton.

When the truth finally comes out, I hope the right (2) people are held accountable.

Yes, I noticed that it was announced when everything was focused on the Royal wedding!

Although I have been following a Plymouth airport topic on another forum and noticed that someone posted this..

As it has now appeared in the press, I can add this:

When SHH took over the 150 year lease of the airport they insisted on having an ‘Armageddon’ clause in the contract. This dictated that if the airport became ‘unviable’ they had the right (even through just owning the lease) to close it and redevelop the land. Over the past few years they have made being unprofitable their intention to achieve this and activate the clause, which has been frustrating to say the least for people who do use the airport frequently, especially businesses. I am aware of at least one situation where a scheduled operator was reportedly denied landing rights, and I have no reason to doubt this.

Such ashame to think that the writing was on the wall from the moment SHH took over.

I must addmit, when flying from Perranporth I flew into Plymouth on a few occasions in a C172, one of the times was on my qualifying cross country and the airport charged something around the figure of £18 or so for a landing fee in a C172. Their landing fees would of detered alot of GA away. If they had been abit cheaper they may of been able to attract more GA, and a runway extension surely would of attracted some biz jets. I believe it was only 2 or 3yrs ago that they added additional parking spaces too.

I can’t fault the airport staff at all though – everyone was really nice and friendly, especially those in the tower! A nice group of people. 🙂

Sad to see that the airport seems to of gone the same way as Sheffield City Airport in respect of deliberate poor management in order to get their way.

I think when RAF St Mawgan became Newquay Airport in the proper sense it rang the death knell for Plymouth. I remember the mutterings back then, along with taht and Exeter Airport the area is quite well served, although Plymouth business users might not think so soon.

Such a shame…

What impact, if any, will this have on Air Southwest’s operation…they’ve already dropped their route to/from LGW, but they also serve ABZ, ORK, DUB, GLA, GCI, JER, LBA and MAN…will all of these be simply transferred over to NQY.

EDIT: In fact, I’ve just noticed that they have announced a new route to JER and GCI from NQY.
http://www.airsouthwest.com/news/shownews.php?ne_id=301

From where you refuelled, westbound to the 06 turning circle has already been earmarked for housing, I would guess the rest of the airfield would be maximised with profit in mind judging the way this company works.

Notice how they ‘buried’ the news on the weekend of the Royal wedding.

Thats pretty low

Baz

So will it become a housing estate?
I thought they were supposedly investing in the airport.

I worked there for 11 years and was made redundant 2 years ago. I saw 1st hand the incompetance of management and how to run an airport into the ground. Not all could be blamed on the downturn in aviation, it was pretty much down to an ex-fireman running the show without a clue.

Sorry to the rest of the staff at the Airport, hope you find work elsewhere.

Very sad to hear. I flew into there on a few occasions, including my qualifying cross country.

Sad to hear that the runway wasnt extended as was planned. With the rate at which airfields are closing lately I sure hope aircraft manufacturers are planning to make a bunch of VTOL aircraft for the future so a runway/airfield wont be necessary. :rolleyes:

Another airport closed, sad times.

Plane Stupid will be happy, I suppose. 🙁