by Queues at passport control, long waits for luggage, and crowded airport lounges. The UK’s biggest terminals – Gatwick, Heathrow, Manchester – may have the biggest routes, but their size can cause many problems. Enter regional airports. These coins may not immediately come to mind when booking a holiday, but they are quietly revolutionizing the way we travel. And now the big operators are taking notice. Ryanair will start offering flights from Norwich airport for the first time next year, flying to Alicante, Faro and Malta on Mondays and Fridays.
The origins of wartime
Technically, there are 50 airports in the UK that are considered “regional”, as the term refers to any airport outside of London that has passenger services. Their significant rise largely began during World War II. Most were RAF bases – such as Speke (now Liverpool John Lennon), Horsham St Faith (now Norwich), St Mawgan (Cornwall Newquay) and Eastleigh Airfield (Southampton) – which were used during the war as bombing stations. and, in Speke’s case. , “shadow factories” for manufacturing.
Many of these airbases were transferred to local councils or came under government control in the late 1940s, and were restructured to serve a commercial market. From Norwich, passengers flew to Amsterdam; from Plymouth, to Chambéry. Bournemouth was, remarkably, ‘London’s airport’ for a while. In 1946, Pan Am began running flights from the terminal to New York, five days a week. The trip took almost 18 hours.
In fact, that model is used in questionably located ‘city’ airports in Europe today. Ryanair’s base in Milan, for example, is located around 45 kilometers outside the city, near Bergamo. This practice allows airports to avoid the risk of being in a big city – that is, disruption to residents and inability to grow – and costs are reduced. But in the UK, Bournemouth failed to compete with London’s offering, and smaller airports fell out of fashion in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Introduction of low cost routes
The limiting factor for regional airports is, of course, the number of flight routes. Heathrow currently offers 214 destinations across 84 countries, which the smaller airports cannot compete with. The early 2000s, however, brought opportunity in the form of low-cost airlines. At Bournemouth, the number of routes increased from 14 to 18 in 2009, taking passengers to destinations such as Malaga in Spain and Faro in Portugal on budget carriers. There was hope of Bmibaby operating from the airport and Flybe briefly started services. The financial crash put an end to that interest at first, however – airlines folded, and the airport’s business was becoming increasingly precarious. By 2011, Air Southwest had stopped flying from Plymouth, and the popular airport folded.
But despite a decline in passenger numbers, most regional airports survived. In 2011, Bournemouth served 613,755 passengers. As with most smaller airports, numbers remained steady, although some – such as Blackpool, which closed in 2014 – never recovered. The most significant threat, however, was the pandemic. With Flybe folded and passengers drying up, the future of terminals such as the East Midlands, Birmingham and Belfast City was in doubt. Doncaster-Sheffield, which served 1.25 million passengers in 2016, closed at the end of 2022, with the collapse of the airline cited as a key factor.
“There have always been challenges,” says Andrew Boomer, Director of Operations at Newquay airport. “You had the Gulf War, and then Foot and Mouth, which devastated the region. All these things came to try us, but I think the pandemic was a big, big blow.”
Post-pandemic hope
However, that trend began to change. The closure of Doncaster-Sheffield helped nearby Leeds Bradford, where Wizz Air and TUI moved their flights. Last year, passengers in August at Exeter airport exceeded 50,000 for the first time since before the pandemic – despite Flybe accounting for 80 per cent of its business. And at Cé Nua, there are now 21 routes in operation.
“Regions are proud of their airports,” says Andrew Bell, CEO of Regional and City Airports Group, which operates Bournemouth, Norwich, Exeter and Coventry.
“You usually see that loud and public when one of them is in danger,” he said. “It’s like a much bigger version of the village pub, or the post office. If you have one, you want to make sure you keep one because they’re not building anymore.”
In fact, world events have been major highlights at Newqay. The 2021 G7 Summit was held in Carbis Bay, and world leaders landed at the airport ahead of the conference. Air Force One was built on the runway and Andrew Boomer noted that it “put them on the map.”
Competition from major airports also appears to be a challenge. The most dramatic moments of this summer’s travel chaos have affected all airports equally, but other factors, such as train strikes, have given those with cars a bit more flexibility.
An alternative to major airports
“The USP of a regional airport is that it allows people to travel in a much simpler way,” says Andrew Bell. “If you live locally, you can travel to a whole range of destinations with a much shorter and more comfortable journey than three larger airports.
“Just by definition, all the processes and the sheer size of the big airport makes that whole experience harder and longer. So it gives people a really strong option – we’ll be able to look after them in a much more personal way than a much bigger airport would.”
Then there are domestic flights, which offered a more flexible option in a year marked by rail strikes. The much-regarded Air Passenger Duty was also cut earlier this year, making domestic air travel cheaper. As rail fares increase, the number of people interested in flying domestically is likely to increase. For Southwest, this could mean flying from Newquay to Gatwick – there are three flights a day – but domestic flights are also trying to change the way people transfer to larger airports that offer more routes. So rather than traveling to London or Manchester by car or train for an onward international flight, Newquay is positioning itself as a ‘gateway’ to other destinations, through connecting flights to the two major cities.
Both representatives were keen to tell Telegraph Travel that sustainability is a key concern. Andrew Bell said that airports have a responsibility to consider the environment, and Andrew Boomer mentioned developments in sustainable aviation fuel as a possible solution. The two also pointed out that their airports are only about transporting holidaymakers. They argue that their ancillary functions are huge, and the number of people they employ is vital to the local economy. At Bournemouth, around 300 staff are employed at the airport, with a further 4,000 working in businesses on the campus site.
“It’s a magnet for economic activity,” says Andrew Bell. “Regional airports have the space and flexibility to offer themselves as an innovative place.” Training pilots and ground staff, developing aircraft design, and maintaining airplanes; it all happens at small UK airports.
It is, admittedly, early days. The ongoing consequences of the pandemic mean that passenger uprisings must be handled carefully. But the airports are optimistic, promising improved facilities, faster services and increased routes. And local demand seems to be there – campaigns in Plymouth and Doncaster Sheffield may eventually reopen. So we may be on the verge of reviving the regional airport.
“The use of these airports has adapted and flowed as the market, and fashion and airlines have changed,” says Andrew Bell. “But they will survive.”
