Spelling Out Plans for Wolverhampton Airport Scheme

Feb 16, 2004  

Spelling Out Plans for Airport Scheme 
Shropshire Star, UK 
  
Bosses behind plans for Wolverhampton Airport to carry
passenger aircraft say their £250 million scheme for
the site could only progress on a stage-by-stage
basis. 
 
Any future development of the airport would also
depend on the Bobbington site attracting new
businesses to it first, although its long-term aim is
to offer no-frills passenger flights to cities in UK
and Europe. 

The airport on the Shropshire border has been pushing
for expansion but the Government's Aviation White
Paper, published in December, has left the decisions
over its development in the hands of local planners at
South Staffordshire District Council. 

As well as digesting the White Paper, the developers
behind the scheme have had to take into account other
developments: record passenger figures at Birmingham
International Airport, plans for a second runway there
which will eventually increase its capacity to 32
million passengers, and the launch from Coventry this
spring of another no-frills carrier. 

Mike Owen, spokesman for the airport's operator and
developers City Hopper Airports, said Bobbington's
business plan would involve first attracting support
services such as aircraft maintenance and flight
training companies, and concentrate on expanding its
existing services at the airport currently used only
by private aircraft. 

He added that the £250 million investment figure for
the airport was a "blue skies" option, and would not
say how this figure would be split, but that any
development of the site would be on a step-by-step
process. 

"The business case for the airport only stacks up if
people and businesses want to come to the airport," he
said. 

Mike said the airport was talking with potential
operators and partners, and once this was in place,
developers would be able to go to investors for
backing and plans submitted. 

"The reality is that investment would be looked at on
a step-by-step basis, and the intention is to expand
general aviation, set out what we have and do it
better. 

"The White Paper has cleared a lot of fog and at last
we can talk to people and say 'this is what we have
got and do you want to come here'." 

Developers are also to embark on a campaign to try to
win over opponents of the airport's expansion, and he
said that plans, including a £2 million scheme to
improve poor access to the site, were "pretty close at
hand". 

He added that the airport hoped that it could attract
a low-cost operator, drawing passengers from the Black
Country, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Hereford and
Worcestershire. 

Some critics argue that the business case doesn't add
up as the region is already well served with low-cost
operators such as Easyjet, Flybe and BMIbaby at
Birmingham and Nottingham East Midlands, while
newcomer Coventry will soon start flights to 11
European cities with Thomsonfly using temporary
passenger facilities. 

But Bobbington argues this shows the huge demand for
cheap flights and Mike denied people would prefer to
use more established airports. 

"There's still a lot of low-cost operators who still
believe there's continued development in this sector.
People are looking at cheap and cheerful and will look
at the closest place to do it." 

He believes the growth in traffic at Birmingham - nine
million passengers a year compared with Bobbington's
40,000 aircraft movements - could even open up a niche
for Wolverhampton to attract businesses linked to the
aircraft industry, such as maintenance. 

Brian Conway of BIA said that the low-cost market in
the Midlands was maturing, with some airlines pulling
routes, and that competition in the sector was fierce.


He added that it had taken Birmingham years of
investment to get to where it now was. 

"The substantial development now working has attracted
the significant number of airlines and the
destinations they serve, which is hard to see being
duplicated elsewhere in the West Midlands." 

Louise Hodson, of Nottingham East Midlands Airport
which last year carried 4.3 million passengers, added:
"It's a mature market and it will be quite difficult
for new starters to enter and establish themselves." 

However, the Government's White Paper predicts air
passenger numbers in the West Midlands could grow as
high as 40 million a year by 2030, although around
half of these could be handled by Birmingham's
existing facilities. 

But with plans for the Bobbington site yet to be
submitted and opponents of the scheme, including
Bridgnorth District Council, lining up against it,
there can be only one certainty. 

Its future is up in the air. 
 

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