Severnside Airport Plan Described As “Far Fetched”

At  first glance it does indeed seem a little far fetched. A scheme has been suggested that would see both Cardiff and Bristol airports being sold and a new Severnside Airport being established close to Newport.

Economies of scale at airports

The man behind the proposals has said that there are too many regional airports, and the economy would receive a significant boost if there was one larger hub, similar to the size of Gatwick.
John Borkowski was speaking as Cardiff airport said it was focusing on improvements while Bristol called the plan unrealistic.

It is not the first time that plans of this type have been put forward, but about a decade ago they were rejected by the UK government under an aviation white paper's 30-year plan for air travel. But now fresh proposals have now been submitted to a UK government group looking at the future of air travel.

They put forward the idea that a major airport should be built somewhere along the Welsh coastline, probably just to the south of the former Llanwern Steelworks site in Newport, with a timetable of about 2029. The proposal includes a 4,000m main runway with road links to the M4, sea links and rail links to the main London-Wales mainline.

On the question of jobs, it is suggested that one thousand people would be offered employment while there is also potential for 10,000 support jobs. The airport would also be capable of handling large, transatlantic planes and freight flights, with the number of passengers forecast to rise from 14 million a year initially to around 40 million by 2050. Noise and air pollution would be greatly reduced as plane activity would take place over water.

However, the plans would depend on the sale of the Welsh government-owned Cardiff airport and the privately-owned Bristol Airport - along with the transfer of their passengers and airlines to Severnside.

Mr Borkowski, a former British Airways executive who has his own aviation consultancy, says that the future of air travel in the UK will depend on less regional airports and more large hub airports, partly to reduce the environmental impact but also to aid economic development.

“What we're talking about is a big airport, much more attractive, with state-of-the-art facilities” This airport we're talking about is something completely different [to Cardiff and Bristol].

"I mean, if you look at Cardiff and Bristol, the facilities are okay for a small regional airport but they are not equivalent to the sort of stuff you find in big international airports. What we're talking about is having facilities for full service airlines, not just for low-cost carriers, which is going to attract a different kind of market into that area.

"To attract the inward business traveller, the man who wants to invest, you need a big airport. He doesn't want to fly into Heathrow and then have to get onto a train somewhere."

 Mr Borkowski said that with the potential closure of Heathrow in the future, it was more important to consider developing a larger airport for Wales and the south west.

"If Heathrow isn't there, just say in the case the government decides to develop the Thames Estuary or maybe even Stansted, what happens then?" Because suddenly Wales' traffic has got to go a lot further east to get out by long haul flights or inbound on flights and that's going to make it less attractive to invest in Wales."

He felt that the Welsh government was following the right path by focusing on improving Cardiff airport after recently buying it for £52m amid concerns about falling passenger number. But he was insistent that in the long run it would pay to be part of the Severnside, along with Bristol's owners, to avoid the duplication of flights and build an airport that catered for both holiday and business travellers.

Cardiff Airport has expansion plans

Unsurprisingly, Bristol Airport, which is recognised as one of the best performing regional airports serving around six million passengers a year - has dismissed the idea.

Chief executive officer Robert Sinclair said: "The Airports Commission has received many proposals for different airport schemes right across the UK.  It is important that these are deliverable solutions not somewhat far-fetched proposals reliant on the forced closure of a successful, privately owned airport which supports thousands of jobs.

Cardiff Airport chief executive Jon Horne was also not a great supporter of the proposal, saying that he was pressing ahead with plans to improve the existing airport rather than any potential new Severn airport.

"The focus here is the now and near future and doing the best job we can for the benefit of the people of Wales," he added.