Closed UK airport that wants to relaunch passenger flights
MANSTON Airport has been closed since 2014 – but is on track to reopen in the next few years.
The Kent site that was used as a former RAF base is currently undergoing public consultation with flights scheduled for 2029.
Three years ago, Manston Airport was bought by RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) who revealed plans to reopen it for around £750million.
The initial timeline was to open the airport in 2025, but this has been pushed back to 2029.
RSP said that the reason for the delays have been due to rising construction costs and the financial market.
Currently, the planning process of reopening the airport is entering its third stage.
Anyone living the local area of Ramsgate and Herne Bay – which are the towns located at either end of the airport’s runway have a first look at where aircraft will be seen and heard if the site reopens.
The documents were published on March 16, with the public given until June 22, 2026 to comment.
On social media it appears there has been a lot of support to open the airport once again.
One commented on Facebook said: “It would be nice to have an airport on our doorstep even if it was for short trips instead of going up to London same as the Eurostar.”
Tony Freudmann, Director at RiverOak Strategic Partners said: “This consultation is an important step in our ambitions to reopen Manston Airport, representing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver new runway capacity to support the UK air cargo market and to transform the economic landscape in East Kent.
“We know Manston holds a special place in the area’s history, we would encourage people to find out more about our proposal and provide any feedback they might have to help shape our plans.”
While the aim is to reopen the airport in 2029, this will be for cargo aircraft only.
When fully open, it’s believed that Manston Airport could handle around a million tonnes of freight a year.
There is still the chance that the airport will operate passenger planes later on.
No airlines have expressed interest yet, Mr Freudman said the likes of Jet2 and TUI prefer “regional airports like this one”.
The airfield was previously used as a regional hub to fly Brits abroad from the 1960s.
It was formerly used by airlines such as KLM, EUjet, Flybe and Monarch Airlines flying to destinations across Europe.
The last scheduled flight was to Amsterdam on April 9, 2014.