Jujupilote wrote:
open just during CAT/business traffic, locked down otherwise
Which is already mostly true of many Scottish (publically owned, too!) airfields. Open just during when CAT arrives and departs. Outside those hours you have to apply days in advance by post for indemnity and pay a fee for the privilege, although the fees aren’t out of hand.
I’ve been saying for years that GA should all pool together in private corporation with venture capital and buy as many private airports as they can and then amortize that procurement cost and any running costs between all the members. Make it a condition for use of the airport that you’re a member/shareholder. Also, there are ways to create income from these airfields that are not well exploited these days: hangarage (seems to be extreme shortage of that in UK), airport restaurants that don’t suck etc.
An example; Camarillo here in LA basin has a great restaurant airside called Wayfarer Cafe. Obviously pilots fly in to eat there, but the bulk of the people that dine there drive to it because the food is so good. It’s even become a family destination because the kids can eat outside and watch right next to the airplanes. Lines through the door every day. Now, the weather is easier here etc, but it’s not inconceivable you could achieve something similar in UK if you just took the time and effort to offer a good experience and quality of food.
AdamFrisch wrote:
but it’s not inconceivable you could achieve something similar in UK if you just took the time and effort to offer a good experience and quality of food.
Turweston/North Welad airfileds are good UK example for business/sport aviation where success and welcoming was not just from aircrafts but also from vintage cars, markets, motorbikes, tractors and farm machinery 
Ibra:
I agree it is -1000£
Not so.
Last time I went to The Scillies by air, I & my 3 passengers spent £1000+ each on accommodation, food and relaxation.
If the locals realised what the airfield closure is doing to their economy, they might start to complain.
If someone (AOPA?) was to expose, via the Island newspaper(?), the __hidden __ losses involved something could happen.
I am sure the airport ‘managers’ would be far more susceptible to local pressure. After all, they have to be made to recognise that it their very own kind who are being put out of work by their decision.
Agree Peter, there is also that mini-economy that few of us see or take for granted, especially for an isolated isle !
As long as airports are private or commercial proprties and not treated as public infrastructure we will never see the end of this. And probably those who say the Greek system of opening only for passenger traffic will be what most of those airfields having passenger traffic will do in the future.
We are loosing airports for GA at an alarming rate without much indication of those lost being compensated by opening new ones. This rises yet again the ugly question of GA viability. Without proper infrastructure, GA is worthless.
Maybe the green movement has been going the wrong way about limiting car traffic too… just close the roads or set “operating hours” or price out 90% of the population by asking £100 per transit and you will have the public at a standstill in no time.
In this particular case, it is particularly disturbing as basically the airport management is holding the whole population and their businesses hostage this way. Maybe really someone should fly down there and start rising up the locals to this scandal. That airport is pretty much the only life line those islands have, so close that down or treat it badly and those islands may well end up in a very bad state soon. IMHO airport “managers” who come up with such garbage need to be prosecuted for disturbing international air traffic. Not only in the UK but elsewhere too.
Indeed.
In Europe, airports have zero interest in serving the surrounding economy, in the same way that airport police (customs/immigration) have zero interest in whether the airport stays in business.
Actually the situation is worse on Alderney, whose economy is very directly tied to the policies of the “airline” which has the monopoly there.
Alderney is grass parking too and they are doing something similar, but closing for only a couple of days
C6318/19 NOTAMN
Q) LFRR/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A /000/999/4942N00213W005
A) EGJA B) 1911250751 C) 1911270740
E) RWY 03/21 AND RWY 13/31 AND GRASS TAXIWAYS CLOSED DUE TO WET
SURFACE
CONDITIONS
CREATED: 25 Nov 2019 07:52:00
SOURCE: EUECYIYN
and IME they do allow a couple of planes to park on the tarmac, if you call them first. They also have hangarage, with a big hangar added recently.
EGHE closing and Bosco explanation sounds vey familiar to me.
Italy is leading the way to GA….to the grave :-((
The scillies are a particular case. On the islands, everybody knows everything about everybody. Each family more or less owns a business, so they all collectively depend on tourism.
So if the airport closes, probably everybody knows and agrees or at least consent.
I am referring specifically to the scillies, where I talked to some people. It may not apply to other islands.
I don’t know who owns the airline which does the Scillies (obviously it can be established) but the one which does Alderney is Aurigny and they are not controlled by anybody on the island. They can just close the route anytime they choose. Then someone else would have to apply for a permission, which comes from Guernsey (Guernsey basically runs Alderney).
So these important lifelines can just close and remain closed for quite a while until somebody else gets going.
GA access to the Scillies (and Anderney) is crucial. Getting there any other way is an all-day hassle and is expensive.
