Exeter Airport receives funding boost to avoid 'worst case scenario' closure
A package of funding worth close to £1million to help ensure Exeter Airport can avoid the "worst case scenario" of closure has been unanimously backed.
The combination of the collapse of Flybe, as well as the pandemic, means the airports future was under threat.A support package has now been agreed by East Devon District Council.
It includes:
The £750,000 will also help endorse the concept of a sustainable aviation cluster centred on Exeter Airport.
The Long Lane Enhancement Scheme will widen the road that runs past Exeter Airport and down to Hampton by Hilton hotel, which will enable a new Airpark – one of the four planned ‘Enterprise Zones’ – to come forward.
The Long Lane scheme includes the construction of a T junction, rather than the initially proposed roundabout at car park 1 at the airport.
The carriageway between car park 1 and the Flybe Academy/Hampton by Hilton hotel will then be widened.
Once the Long Lane works are finished, the Silverdown Link will become a permanent bus and cycle only link.
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Project director Andrew Wood said that the airport had probably been the business most impacted of any in the district by covid-19.
He said: "The package of support is in place for the Airport to help counteract the impact of the lockdown, promote recovery and chart a course to a more sustainable future.
"The most obvious alternative option would be not to provide any form of public sector backed support.
"The Airport does though face an existential threat currently. In the worst case scenario the Airport would close.
"This would lead to further large scale job closures, reduce business rate revenues and also diminish the connectivity of the region."
Mr Wood added: " As we emerge from lockdown commercial flights have now recommenced from the Airport. But this is nowhere near the scale that might otherwise have been expected with passenger numbers down by 94 per cent during August.
"While some former Flybe routes have been picked up by alternative operators such as Logan Air and Blue Island, other key routes including to Paris and Amsterdam are not currently being operated.
"The flying programme continues to be further impacted by the uncertainties around quarantine restrictions."