The BBC reports that Newquay airport will be closed tomorrow, December 1, through December 19 at the earliest, while work is done on the air traffic control system.
Ryanair's none too happy. Air Southwest is relocating all Newquay flights to Plymouth and providing a Newquay-Plymouth shuttle, and tiny Skybus—not to be confused with the failed US low-cost carrier—is also providing a shuttle between Newquay and Land's End for flights to the Isles of Scilly.
The BBC story says that 7000 people will be affected by the temporary closure.
This is not a great day for Cornwall tourism.
This was a complete screw-up by the local Govt (Cornwall county council). Newquay used to be essentially a Royal Air Force (RAF) base with air traffic control still run by the RAF. The RAF decided to leave the base and hand the runway over to local Govt to aid regional tourism. Just like an airline, all commercial airports with flights in the EU need a licence from regulatory authorities. No licence = no flights.
At the request of the local Govt, the RAF has stuck around for an extra 6 months to aid a smooth handover - but with operations in Afghanistan and Iraq to staff they can't afford to provide indefinite cover. The council knew this was coming, yet gave only 5 days notice of the closure.
Posted by: David | December 01, 2008 at 04:41