Blackpool International Airport
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Blackpool International Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||
| IATA: BLK - ICAO: EGNH | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | City Hopper Airports Limited | ||
| Serves | Blackpool | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 34 ft (10 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 07/25 | 2,621 | 799 | Asphalt |
| 10/28 | 6,132 | 1,869 | Asphalt |
| 13/31 | 3,533 | 1,077 | Asphalt |
Blackpool International Airport (IATA: BLK, ICAO: EGNH) is a small international airport, 2.6 nautical miles (4.8 km) south southeast of Blackpool, Lancashire in north west England. The airport is owned and operated by City Hopper Airports Limited, who also own Wolverhampton Airport and Biella Airport in Italy.
Blackpool Airport Limited has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P724) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.
Several scheduled airlines operate from the airport, as well as chartered holiday flights in summer months. Helicopter operations serve north west England’s Irish Sea offshore gas facilities.
Passenger numbers have recently increased sharply, from 350,000 in the 12 months to October 2005 to 548,000 in the year to October 2006.
Contents |
[edit] History
The airport has been in operation since 1909, when the UK's first official public Flying Meeting was held on a specially laid out site at Squires Gate. During World War II, Vickers operated an aircraft production facility, producing Wellington bombers. By 1949, the airfield was placed in the hands of the Ministry of Aviation and renamed Blackpool Airport. In the mid 1950's, Hawker Hunter jet fighters were produced in the WW2 factory at the north-east edge of the airfield.
Since then the airport has been steadily expanding, accommodating helicopter operations for British Gas, and attracting scheduled flights from budget airlines, Jet2 and Ryanair and also scheduled services by smaller operators to the Isle of Man. Since WW2, Squires Gate has been a thriving centre for private, club and general aviation.
In 2005, Jet2.com became the first major low cost airline to base an aircraft at Blackpool Airport. This created around 50 new jobs and boosted passenger numbers. They now serve eight destinations from this airport; 5 in Spain and the Canaries (Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, Murcia, Tenerife, Málaga. They also offer a domestic service to Belfast and a 5 times weekly flight to Amsterdam. Services to Faro and Prague have also been added to the network.
Monarch Airlines decided to end their four-times weekly A320 flight from Málaga to the airport after 27th October this year. The service was once operating daily, then reduced to six-times weekly, and subsequently, to four-times weekly. Monarch said that the service is ending because of poor passenger loads, even though it has been reported that the service had a 70% load factor, compared to Ryanair having an average loads of 50 and 60 percent on their Stansted and Dublin routes repectively, compared to their high load factors of 88% on their Gerona route. Jet2.com have a load factor of just 45% on their Belfast route.
[edit] Airlines and Destinations
- British NorthWest Airlines (Belfast-City, Isle of Man)
- Jet2.com (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast, Faro, Majorca, Málaga [begins March 2007], Murcia, Palma, Prague [begins 29 October], Tenerife)
- Manx2 (Belfast, Isle of Man)
- Ryanair (Dublin, Girona, London-Stansted)
[edit] Airport Facilities
- Shopping - Duty Free Shop & WHsmith
- Games Room
- Food Outlets - Max Beans Cafe & Bar
- Currency Exchange
- Executive Lounge
- Car Park
- Car Hire - Hertz
- Tourist Information Desk
[edit] Transport
- M55 Junction 4 is nearby
- Squires Gate railway station is nearby for trains to Blackpool South and Preston
- Local bus operator Blackpool Transport operates an open top City Sightseeing bus along the promenade into Blackpool town centre (summer only)
- Local bus routes 5, 7 and 11 stop near the airport to take passengers to Blackpool town centre and beyond.
- Tram services are available from the nearby Starr Gate tram stop. The trams take passengers along the promenade past Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, Central Pier and Blackpool Tower.
[edit] External link
[edit] References
| Airports of the United Kingdom |
|---|
| London: City | Gatwick | Heathrow | Luton | Stansted | Southend |
| England: Birmingham | Blackpool | Bournemouth | Bristol | Coventry | Doncaster-Sheffield | Durham Tees Valley | Exeter | Humberside | Leeds-Bradford | Liverpool | Manchester | Newcastle | Newquay | Norwich | Nottingham East Midlands | Southampton Brighton | Land's End | Plymouth | St. Mary's |
| Scotland: Aberdeen | Edinburgh | Glasgow International | Glasgow Prestwick | Inverness | Sumburgh Barra | Benbecula | Campbeltown | Dundee | Fair Isle | Islay | Kirkwall | Lerwick | Stornoway | Tiree | Westray | Wick |
| Wales: Cardiff |
| Northern Ireland: Belfast City | Belfast International | Derry |
| Crown Dependencies: Alderney | Guernsey | Isle of Man | Jersey |
| edit this box |
