Ryanair suspends Newquay airport operations

All Ryanair flights into and out of Newquay airport have been cancelled by the budget carrier until further notice, after the facility announced that it would be closing for three weeks or more in December.

These service cancellations are the latest in an extensive series of cuts that have been made by the low-cost airline in the past several weeks.

Currently, air traffic control at the Newquay airport, which sees 460,000 passengers annually, is operated by the RAF. The RAF owns adjacent St Mawgan airbase, and a handover of control of the airport to the Cornwall County Council was scheduled for 1 December.

As a result of construction delays with the new control tower, the Civil Aviation Authority will not issue a license to Cornwall County Council until 20 December.

The closure impacts Air Southwest, Skybus and Ryanair, although it’s only Ryanair that has announced a decision to cancel flights. Air Southwest has indicated that it will try to divert all of its traffic to Plymouth airport, and Skybus is considering its contingency plans.

Dublin-based Ryanair operates 13 flights each week from Newquay airport, to Alicante and Barcelona, as well as London Stansted.

A spokesman for the airline would not confirm when operations would resume at the Cornish airport, creating questions about whether the airport would be open before the Christmas travel period.

www.ryanair.com