Carlisle Airport should 'give up on commercial flights'

A business leader has said the time has come to give up on the idea of Carlisle Airport providing passenger flights.

Owner Esken said it wanted to get the facility operational again after the pandemic shut-down and was currently looking at a range of options.

But the managing director of Cumbria Chamber of Commerce said that for Cumbrians wanting to travel to bigger cities, the train was a better option.

So regarding commercial flights, it was time to "stop flogging a dead horse".

Passenger flights from the airport resumed operating in July 2019 after a 26-year gap, but were then grounded the following March due to Covid-19.

Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, which had supported plans to bring them back, has now questioned whether the county needs the service.

It felt that the airport was not big enough and flights did not go where people wanted, so the train was a better option.

Managing director Suzanne Caldwell said: "Public money has gone in - substantial public money - and there's a lot of private money gone in.

"A lot of clever people have really tried hard to make it work and they just haven't managed to make it work over all those years.

"I think it just does seem like the time now to say, 'yeah, let's stop flogging a dead horse' and put our efforts and investment elsewhere."

Esken said its short to medium-term strategy was to get the airport operational with general aviation, and would then "explore opportunities including business jet, and military".

It added: "The company is additionally exploring opportunities to develop the airport as an air freight hub for a gateway to northern England and Scotland."

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