Bids start for £56m regional air fund
Guest Writers are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the specific writer directly
Airports and airlines have started to submit bids for part of a £56 million government fund to launch new routes from UK regional airports.
The first tranche of the Regional Air Connectivity Fund has made £17.5m available in 2015/16 with another £20m to be available for another two years.
Since announced in June 2013 the fund has already helped launch new routes from London to Newquay and Dundee.
“Smaller airports are vital to local economies and ensuring they thrive is a key part of our long term economic plan,” said Aviation Minister Robert Goodwill. “I want to encourage the industry to apply to expand their routes, to generate UK growth and jobs, as well as boosting our trade links with countries all over the world.”
Applications can be submitted up to 25 February, with a shortlist out in March and the successful bidders published in June.
Although encouraging inbound and outbound tourism VisitEngland said the new connectivity will also help domestically.
“This is great news for English regions and a great opportunity for our regional airports to change the way people visit this country, while dramatically improving utilisation levels. VisitEngland has a proven track record of working with destination management organisations and regional airports, including Bristol and Newquay, to drive up passenger traffic through marketing campaigns that promote new and existing routes,” said CEO James Berresford. “Our efforts rebalance English tourism so that regions have a better chance of growing their local economies, jobs and inward investment through tourism. The Government’s new funding announcement provides a fantastic opportunity to expand this successful work with our regional partners and drive more visitors directly to the regions.”
Comments are closed.