Blackpool Airport manager welcomes new ten point plan for aviation

The Government’s new strategy, Flightpath to the Future, aims to support delivery of an innovative and sustainable aviation sector as it recovers from the pandemic, while establishing a new Aviation Passenger Charter and also an Aviation Council.

Launched by Minister Robert Courts who visited Blackpool Airport during the recent Tory Party’s spring Northern Conference held at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, it aims to rebuild consumer confidence, build back sustainably from the pandemic, support jobs across the country and build a skilled and diverse workforce for the future.

The plans also aim deliver benefits for communities across the whole country through new jobs and better connectivity by becoming one of the first countries in the world to routinely use new aircraft to provide new and improved low carbon transport for goods, people and trade.

It also aims to support further growth of General Aviation, which is the mainstay of business at Squires Gate currently.

Steve Peters, the new managing director at Blackpool Airport said “We welcome all the Government’s initiatives to strengthen General Aviation in the UK through innovation and sustainable growth.

"In particular to Blackpool Airport, given the nature of our business and air operations and in the interest of the best economic benefit for the town, we are keen to explore how the Government’s strategy can help us to capture the potential of new technology and its uses, especially how this could impact the development of a new air traffic control tower at Blackpool, how we can unlock local benefits and level up in line with our industry peers across the UK, and how as a regional airport we can take an active and meaningful role to make the UK the best place in the world for General Aviation.”

Robert Courts visited Blackpool Airport and several of the airport operators, witnessing first-hand the successful aviation-based operations working both airside and non-airside.

He said, “I had the pleasure of visiting Blackpool Airport, a thriving and diverse General Aviation airport which plays a valuable contribution to the success of the UK’s aviation sector. I was impressed by the excellent work undertaken by the airport and operators to enable a range of skills opportunities, train the next generation of aviation professionals and support the critical work of the North West Ambulance Service to save lives.”