Manston Airport

Manston Airport
Code	IATA: MSE, ICAO: EGMH
County	Kent
	Public
Owner	RiverOak Strategic Partners Limited
Location	TR33146566 51°20’32"N, 1°20’46"E
Runway(s)	9,016 feet (Asphalt concrete)
Website

Manston Airport (IATA: MSE, ICAO: EGMH) is an airport in Kent. Originally operated as RAF Manston, from 1916, it has also operated as a commercial airport and was known as Kent International Airport and, briefly, London Manston Airport. It has been closed since 2014. Located in the parish of Minster-in-Thanet and partly adjacent to the village of Manston, 11 nautical miles north-east of Canterbury.

The airfield site comprises 700 acres. The single runway is located about a mile from the coastline at 178 feet above sea level.

Manston has the 11th-longest civilian runway in the United Kingdom, after Heathrow's two runways, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Stansted, East Midlands, Doncaster, Prestwick and Belfast International), 9,016 feet in length.

When operational, Manston was capable of handling some of the larger long-haul aircraft, but the runway was not long enough for the largest passenger or freight types at their maximum take-off weights. The runway was originally built with three "lanes" during the Second World War to handle emergencies, and is among the widest in Europe.

Since its closure, the airport has been used as an emergency lorry park in the event of temporary cross-Channel traffic problems, a filming location, including for the 2023 Sam Mendes film Empire of Light and has hosted a variety of aviation events, including the 2023 British Open Paramotor Championships and a general aviation fly-in event (May 2023).

Since 9 July 2019, Manston has been owned by RiverOak Strategic Partners and is the subject of a Development Consent Order to be reopened as an airfreight hub. The DCO was granted by the Secretary of State for Transport in July 2020 and again in August 2022, with the final legal challenge to the DCO dismissed in May 2024. The owners of the airport propose to reopen the airport for air cargo flights in 2028.

History

Origins

At the outset of the First World War, the Isle of Thanet was equipped with a small and precarious landing strip for aircraft at St Mildred's Bay, Westgate-on-Sea, on top of the chalk cliffs, at the foot of which was a promenade which had been used for seaplane operations. The landing grounds atop the cliff soon became the scene of several accidents, with one plane failing to stop before the end of the cliffs and tumbling into the sea, which, fortunately for the pilot, had been on its inward tide.

In the winter of 1915–1916, early aircraft began to use the open farmlands between Minster and Manston as a site for emergency landings. The Admiralty Aerodrome at Manston was opened in response. A training school, originally set up to instruct pilots in the use of the new Handley Page Type O bombers, was soon established. By the close of 1916, there were already two units stationed at Manston: the Operational War Flight Command and the Handley Page Training School.

The location of the airfield near the Kent coast gave Manston some advantages over other aerodromes, and regular additions in men and machinery were soon made, particularly from RAF Detling, in early days. By 1917 the Royal Flying Corps was well established and taking an active part in the defence of Britain.

Battle of Britain and the Second World War

Manston was used as a forward base by many squadrons during the Second World War, owing to its location close to the front line. It was frequently attacked and heavily bombed during the Battle of Britain. Barnes Wallis used the base to test his bouncing bomb on the coast at nearby Reculver, before the Dambusters raid.

Hawker Typhoon and Gloster Meteor squadrons were based at Manston during the war. On 27 July 1944, RAF 616 Squadron became the first allied jet equipped squadron in the world to become operational, using Meteors to intercept German V-1 flying bombs aimed at London. Manston's position close to the front line and its long and broad three lane runway (built during the war, along with the runways at Woodbridge and Carnaby near Bridlington) meant the airfield was heavily used by badly damaged planes that had suffered from ground fire, collisions, or air attack. The airfield became a "graveyard" for heavy bombers and less-damaged aircraft, offering spare parts for allied aircraft in need of repair. The museum on site displays some aerial views dating from this era and the post-war years.

Post-war military and civil use

During the Cold War of the 1950s, the United States Air Force used Manston as a Strategic Air Command base for its fighter and fighter-bomber units. The USAF withdrew from Manston in 1960, and the airfield became a joint civilian and RAF airport, employed for occasional package tour and cargo flights, alongside its continuing role as an RAF base. Air Cadets used the northern side of the airfield as a gliding site, and an Air Experience Flight flying de Havilland Chipmunks was based there. Manston was used as a diversionary airfield for emergency military and civilian landings.

Manston became Kent International Airport from 1989, and a new terminal was opened by Sarah, Duchess of York. Summer season charter flights operated by Dan-Air to Palma, Mallorca were introduced on Saturdays, using BAC One-Elevens. The Yugoslavian carrier Aviogenex operated regular charters to the then-popular beach resorts of the then Yugoslavia on behalf of the now defunct Yugotours.

Kent International Airport was initially a 38-acre civilian area within the former RAF Manston that included the existing terminal building and an apron where passengers embarked and freighters were loaded. The runway was not included within this enclave. In 1988, the owners of Kent International Airport signed a 125-year legal agreement with the RAF that obliged the RAF to maintain the runway, as well as to provide ongoing air traffic control and fire and rescue services. The cost of providing these was estimated at up to £3 million by the Ministry of Defence.

Sale and commercial operations

After an absence of regular charter services, Aspro Holidays operated a series of summer charter services during the 1992–93 summer season with its in-house airline Inter European Airways to Palma, Mallorca and Larnaca, Cyprus using the Boeing 737, and added a service to Heraklion, Crete, which was often operated using its larger Boeing 757 airliner. When Aspro was taken over by Airtours, the flights ceased. The early 1990s also saw weekly flights to Larnaca, Cyprus by Cypriana Holidays, with Eurocypria operating the inbound flight via Norwich as a split load. The service continued for approximately two summer seasons before Cypriana went into administration.

A 1993 report by the Department of Trade and Industry examined runway capacity and found Manston unsuitable for development as a major airport because of its proximity to a town. In 1999, the Ministry of Defence sold RAF Manston for £4.75 million to the Wiggins Group, which inherited the legal agreement obliging the RAF to continue maintenance of the airfield. Within six months, the RAF announced that it was leaving the airfield.

Development began in 2004 in an attempt to make it a budget airline hub. Irish airline EUjet, formed in 2002, began scheduled flights in September 2004. On 26 July 2005, the airline went into administration and all EUjet flights ended, along with all non-freight operations at the airport. London Manston Airport plc went into liquidation. Operations then temporarily ceased.

The sale of Manston to Infratil, owner of Prestwick Airport, was completed on 26 August 2005. In July 2006 a charter route between Manston and Norfolk, Virginia, was announced, but was cancelled before commencement because of low bookings. Cargolux started flying for Ghana Airways from Accra to Kent International on 17 April 2007, operating as Kent Escapes. At the end of the season, flights were operated by Futura International Airways, a Spanish-based airline, using the Boeing 737. Futura ceased trading during September 2008 and Seguro on 10 September 2008.

View across part of the airport

On 15 February 2010, former airport CEO Matt Clarke and Flybe head of PR Niall Duffy announced a daily service from Manston to Edinburgh, Kirkwall, and Sumburgh, Belfast, and Manchester. The services were the first daily scheduled routes at Manston since the collapse of EUjet in 2005. Dash-8Q400 aircraft were used. Air Southwest announced seasonal charter services to Jersey every Saturday using Dash-8 aircraft. The Flybe services to Kirkwall and Sumburgh were operated by the once-daily flight to Edinburgh and then by Loganair to the onward destinations.

Departures were offered during summer 2011 to Funchal, Madeira with specialist operator Atlantic Holidays, operated by Monarch Airlines but then discontinued. Newmarket Holidays continued to offer irregular charter flights during the summer months to Verona and Naples in Italy, as well as Porto in Portugal using the Lithuanian charter airline Small Planet Airlines for the summer 2013 season.

Decline and closure

All Flybe services ceased from Manston Airport in 2012. In that year, Infratil placed Kent International and Glasgow-Prestwick airports up for sale. On 14 November 2012, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced twice daily flights from Manston to Amsterdam, with onward connections via the KLM network. The first flight was with a Fokker 70 on 2 April 2013.

British Airways Airbus A380 undergoing crew training at Manston

From July 2013, British Airways has operated test flights and crew training for the Airbus A380 from Manston, which was followed by a similar exercise for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

By 2014, daily losses were said to be £10,000. The airport closed on 9 April 2014. On 12 April 2014, Newmarket Holidays said its Verona and Naples seasonal charter flights would move to the expanding Lydd Airport.

Lorry park

On 31 July 2015, it was announced that the site might be used to house overflow lorries from Operation Stack, an emergency procedure to be used when services across the English Channel, such as those through the Channel Tunnel or from the Port of Dover, were disrupted. To prevent lorries from parking on the motorway during busy periods, freight traffic bound for the Port of Dover might be diverted to the airfield and held until it can be directed to the ferry services.

On 26 October 2016, local newspaper the Thanet Extra reported that the owners of the site had received payments totalling £3.539 million from the Department for Transport to keep Manston Airport on standby as a lorry park for Operation Stack.

Manston was switched to Operation Brock, a plan for the event of a no-deal Brexit, when it superseded Operation Stack in 2019. In December 2020, the airport runway was used as a lorry park when the French border was closed to traffic from the UK due to a new strain of coronavirus being found there.

Future

In July 2019, it was announced the airport may restart operations by 2022, its new owner RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) had revealed. RSP, a London-based company incorporated in 2016 specifically to reopen the Kent airport, told the BBC it planned "short-haul and cargo flights" at the site. The company confirmed in a statement dated 3 July that it would purchase the airport from the then owners Stone Hill Park (SHP), which had originally planned to develop the area into housing, a business park, a country park, and sports village.

In August 2022 RSP announced that it had received the redetermined Development Consent Order, from the Department for Transport. Following proposed investment of £500 million it expected to restart flights in 2025. now changed to 2028 if funding can be secured.

In May 2017, it was announced that a new potential aviation investor was intending to approach Thanet District Council regarding a compulsory purchase order. In July 2017 the Planning Inspectorate announced that, following its inquiry, it had thrown out the four applications for change of use of the Manston site to non-aviation uses.

In August 2022, the minister approved an order to bring the airfield back into use. In May 2024 a Judicial Review to challenge the reopening and redevelopment of Manston airport was rejected by the Court of Appeal.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Manston Airport)

• RAF Manston Spitfire and Hurricane Memorial Museum
• RAF Manston History Museum
• History of Manston Airfield