The government has published the details of 19 bids it received during the first application stage for funding from the Regional Air Connectivity Fund.
The funding is available for brand new routes for regional airports which handle fewer than 5 million passengers a year.
The Regional Air Connectivity Fund was announced by the government in June 2013. The fund is used to maintain regional air connections. The government doubled the size of the fund to £20 million per year in the 2014 Budget.
Among the 19 bids which have been received during the initial application stage include:
- Daily Flybe route between Norwich and Paris Charles de Gaulle (proposed to start April 1, 2016)
- Double daily Flybe route between Norwich and Dublin (proposed to start April 1, 2016)
- Daily Stobart Air route between Carlisle and Belfast (proposed to start April 1, 2016)
- Daily weekday Bmi Regional route between Doncaster Sheffield and Frankfurt (proposed to start April 1, 2016)
The final short-list of airports that have met the criteria will be made in early May. Those successful routes will then move forward to the “strategic and economic appraisal stage”, with successful bids being announced in July 2015.
The Regional Air Connectivity Fund has a total of £56 million available to cover 3 years of financial support for start-up aid.
Previous beneficiaries of the funding include Flybe's Newquay to Gatwick airport route, which chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander referred to as being "vital for Cornwall's businesses, tourist industry and residents".