Ryanair condemns 'farce' at UK airport

Flights to and from a regional airport will be suspended or diverted elsewhere when it closes temporarily tomorrow in a scenario which Ryanair has slammed as a “farce.”

Newquay airport in north Cornwall will shut down until December 19.

Cornwall County Council, which owns the civilian airport, was due to take over the adjacent RAF St Mawgan site tomorrow.

But the council failed to get the necessary Civil Aviation Authority licence as new air traffic facilities were not ready.

Airlines affected by this closure are Air Southwest, Skybus and Ryanair.

Ryanair has until further notice cancelled all future flights from Newquay Airport and spokesman Stephen McNamara said: “The situation at Newquay has descended into farce.”

The airport’s biggest operator, Air South West, said it would be running all its Newquay flights from Plymouth Airport in Devon instead.

Cornwall County Council spokesman Andrew Mitchell, said: “ We have managed the project successfully up to now and have disappointingly met a hurdle right at the end.”

A spokesperson for the CAA said: “Newquay has taken a difficult but responsible decision to delay the opening.

“And the CAA commends Cornwall County Council and the airport’s management team for allocating the appropriate highest priority to safety over the significant commercial pressure to open on time.”.

Newquay Cornwall Airport said it would provide a shuttle coach service to Bristol, Bournemouth and Stansted between December 1 to 19 December.

Independent Cornwall county councillor Mark Kaczmarek said the “fiasco” had resulted in the county being held up to ridicule across Europe.“

The county council said it was working “flat out” to make sure the airfield was open as soon as possible.