COMMENT: Worries in Devon!
The decision by British Airways to scrap its service from Gatwick to both Plymouth and Newquay (see below) could be economic disaster for west Devon and many parts of Cornwall. The announcement has been made just at a point when government funding had been agreed for Plymouth City Airport and BA has published its ideas on a third runway at Heathrow. The BA move was not unexpected.
A parallel can be drawn with the loss of the Heathrow route some years back and the serious commercial decline of Plymouth. If Gatwick goes the consequences could be far worse. Unless its air links are replaced Plymouth might well become an economic desert from which recovery would take decades. The nearest international airport is Heathrow, 225 miles away by road, whilst the train, when it does operate on time, is sometimes uniquely further delayed by sea splash as it runs along the south Devon coast.
The history of BA links to London go back to 1977 when Brymon Airways took over the then British Midland Airways Newquay ” Heathrow service lock stock and Handley Page Herald. Bill Bryce was reputed to have paid Mike Bishop ”250,000 for the route.
In 1981 Brymon introduced the DHC Dash 7, with its flights into Heathrow from Plymouth, for the first time. Drake”s city and the far west flourished with PLH linked to the world”s busiest international airport. Bryce over-extended himself by his involvement in the London City Airport, selling to new owners, The Plimsol Line Plc, led by Charles Stuart, a dynamic British Airways executive with roots in the west country. By the end of the decade Plymouth and its airport was flourishing with services to Heathrow, Gatwick, the Channel Islands and Paris, The Isles of Scilly and Cork. Dublin was tried and even London City. Bristol flights offered domestic links. Twice the number of people were using the airport than currently. The airline even organised a ”beauty parade” with aircraft manufacturer from around the world flying in their products for all to see and try. As of now the airport lacks a runway of sensible length but ten years ago the then management were confident that this problem could be resolved.
The airline took over the failing Birmingham Executive Airways and brought in both British Airways and Maersk of Denmark as partners. Stuart retired handing the reigns over to Jim Harris, a former BA colleague, his leadership proving disastrous and short lived with senior management fleeing and Birmingham European floundering. Brymon became part of BA (and Birmingham European Maersk UK) and soon removed its headquarters to Bristol (and later to Weston super Mare ” that centre of aviation). Plymouth became a far outpost of the BA empire forgotten and forlorn.
Sutton Harbour Plc purchased the Plymouth Airport site in early 2000 but, with the notable exception of a plan to build an entirely new airport to the east of the city, has been very reticent with its ideas. Ryanair”s excursion into Newquay, 50 miles further to the west, was perhaps the final nail in the coffin for BA. The massively subsidised semi-redundant RAF airfield is dangerous news for Devon but OK for Ryanair and its shareholders, for some in Cornwall and for the 40,000 annual passengers who now use the route. Ryanair, typically, tell us double the numbers but virtually every passenger has to book a return flight.
With the use of Heathrow”s disused cross runway never properly considered there is an answer to Plymouth”s problems (and the same goes for Inverness, Humberside and the Channel Islands). Ring fence Heathrow. ABTN has eulogised this option before. It happens overseas. Why not here in the UK. The slot requirement is minimal. Only by secure air access can the regions survive economically in the 21st century. British Airways are actively engaged in promoting a third runway at Heathrow. Why not go the whole hog and make a promise of slots for regional operations not currently operating into the airport? A guarantee of regional operations will gander a lot more support for an expansion of Heathrow.