Coventry Airport
| Coventry Airport | |
 | |
|---|---|
| Code | IATA: CVT, ICAO: EGBE |
| County | Warwickshire |
| Owner | Patriot Aviation Group |
| Operator | Coventry Airport Ltd. |
| Location | SP35427511 |
| Website | www.coventryairport.co.uk |
Coventry Airport is beside the village of Baginton in Warwickshire, three nautical miles south-southeast of Coventry city centre. The airport is owned by Patriot Aviation Group, and has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P902) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee, Coventry Airport Limited.[1]
First opened in 1936 as Baginton Aerodrome, Coventry Airport has been used for general aviation, flight training, and commercial freight and passenger flights, as well as being a Second World War fighter airfield. In 1994-5, it became a focus for animal rights campaigners who protested at the export of live animals from the airport as freight. From 2004 to 2008, Thomsonfly operated scheduled jet passenger flights from temporary hub facilities at Coventry. A controversial plan to build permanent passenger terminal facilities was rejected by the High Court in 2007. Following financial problems, the airport was briefly closed in 2009, before re-opening as a commercial airport in 2010.
History
Creation and growth
In 1933 Coventry City Council decided to develop a civic airport on land that they owned to the south-east of the city in Baginton. Coventry Airport was opened in 1936. Armstrong Whitworth, aircraft manufacturers based nearby at Whitley Aerodrome, built an aircraft factory on the airport site soon afterwards.
During Second World War the airport was utilised as a fighter station, RAF Baginton, by the Royal Air Force. It was damaged in the 1940 Coventry Blitz bombing raid by the Luftwaffe.
After the war the airport was returned to civil use as a passenger and freight terminal. In the 1950s Jersey Airlines operated De Havilland Heron and Douglas Dakota aircraft on services to the Channel Islands.[2] In the 1960s British United Airways flew Dakota, Carvair (which also carried passengers' cars) and Handley Page Heralds to the Channel Islands.[3]
During the 1980s local travel agents Hards Travel started using the Airport with its Viscount and Dart Herald aircraft for holidays to Spain, Italy and Austria, flying to Beauvais in France and Ostend Airport, operating under the Janus Airways banner. The holiday brands they used were Summer-Plan, and HTS Holidays. In the late-1980s, Coventry City Council sold the airport lease to Air Atlantique.
From 5 November 1994 to 4 May 1995 live veal calves were exported from Coventry Airport to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport for distribution across Europe, and the locality became a focus for animal rights demonstrators. On 21 December 1994 Air Algérie Flight 702P, a Boeing 737, used for exporting calves crashed in Willenhall Wood, by Willenhall, Coventry near to houses, on approach to the airport in bad weather, and all five people on board were killed.[4]
Scheduled jet flights
In February 2004 the airport lease was sold to TUI AG, who started scheduled international flights from a temporary passenger terminal building in March 2004 under the brand Thomsonfly using two Boeing 737s. The operation drew vociferous opposition from environmental campaigners, some local residents and the local borough council, but was supported by Coventry City Council.[5] Warwick District Council unsuccessfully sought an injunction to stop flights, claiming that the temporary facilities were built without planning permission.[6] Flights expanded through the following years, while the airport sought planning permission for a permanent passenger terminal and facilities. Thomsonfly expanded operations with more European flights and up to six aircraft based at the airport, while WizzAir also began regular flights to Poland.
Planning permission for a permanent passenger terminal was refused, a matter which went to appeal and up to the High Court of Justice in 2008.[7] The planning battle affected the confidence of flight operators. On 1 September 2008, Wizz Air confirmed they would not continue their seasonal service from Coventry to Gdansk and Katowice. On 15 October 2008, Thomsonfly confirmed that they would cease operations at Coventry Airport, citing their increased focus on charter services after their merger with First Choice Airways. Scheduled passenger flights from Coventry ended on 9 November 2008.[8] The airport continued with cargo operations, and was a base for executive jet services, general aviation and flight training, and the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.[9]
Closure, sale and re-opening
In May 2009, Coventry Airport was put up for sale.[10] Security and air traffic control were outsourced to Marshall Aerospace and HM Revenue & Customs issued a winding-up petition in the High Court, to the concern of local businesses.[11] On 8 December 2009, the CAA closed the airport with immediate effect, filing of a Notice to Airmen withdrawing its operating licence,[12] leaving only the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance able to use the airport.[13][14] The airport re-opened as an unlicensed airfield the following week, without air traffic control, to private traffic.
Sir Peter Rigby's Patriot Aviation group took over ownership of Coventry Airport on 28 April, and it was fully re-opened in summer 2010.
Triumph in the Skies II
Hong Kong TVB filmed flight training scenes for their series Triumph in the Skies II at the airport using facilities and aircraft owned by Aeros Flight Training.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Coventry Airport) |
References
- ↑ Civil Aviation Authority Aerodrome Ordinary Licences
- ↑ "Baginton (Coventry) airport History-page 2". http://www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/id48.htm.
- ↑ "Baginton-Coventry airport". http://www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/id39.htm.
- ↑ "Aeroplane crash dead remembered". BBC. 21 December 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/4113833.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
- ↑ "Fight or flight at Coventry Airport". Coventry Telegraph. 7 April 2004. http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/south-warwickshire-news/tm_headline=fight-or-flight-at-coventry-airport%26method=full%26objectid=14125480%26siteid=92746-name_page.html. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ↑ "Council drops airport court case". BBC. 2004-06-18. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/3817199.stm. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
- ↑ "Coventry Airport expansion appeal is rejected". Coventry Telegraph. 7 October 2008. http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2008/10/07/coventry-airport-expansion-appeal-is-rejected-92746-21980432/. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ↑ "Passenger flights end at Coventry". BBC News Online. 9 November 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/7718581.stm. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ↑ "Latest news". Coventry Airport. http://www.coventryairport.co.uk/news2.php. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
- ↑ "Coventry Airport For Sale". http://flycvt.com/coventry_airport_sale_2009.aspx. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
- ↑ "Coventry Airport: Solution must be found, say business leaders". Coventry Telegraph. http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2009/12/02/coventry-airport-solution-must-be-found-say-business-leaders-92746-25304744/. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ↑ "Coventry Airport To Close Immediately". Sky News. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Coventry-Airport-To-Close-With-Immediate-Effect-Making-70-People-Redundant/Article/200912215495921?lpos=Business_Carousel_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15495921_Coventry_Airport_To_Close_With_Immediate_Effect%2C_Making_70_People_Redundant. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ↑ "Coventry Airport closed". http://www.loop.aero/LPA1825/Article.aspx. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ↑ Woodman, Peter (8 December 2009). "Coventry Airport shuts down". The Independent. Press Association (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/coventry-airport-shuts-down-1836481.html. Retrieved 13 January 2010.