Manston Airport in Kent, which was once used by the Royal Air Force, is currently being refurbished and is expected to reopen in 2025 – but it will initially be a cargo airport
An abandoned airport could soon be back in business, offering budget flights to some of Europe’s top destinations.
Manston Airport in Kent is set to roar back into life a decade after it closed its doors. The former Royal Air Force base, which played a crucial role in both World Wars, is currently undergoing a major refurbishment and is slated to reopen in 2028.
Initially, the revived airport will focus on cargo operations. However, plans are afoot to introduce passenger services. Tony Freudmann, main board director at controlling airport company RiverOak Strategic Partners, told the BBC that he is hopeful that passenger services will return and said they have plans to attract short-haul carriers to popular destinations in Europe.
The revamp of Manston is expected to cost a whopping £500million, encompassing new terminals and upgraded runways. The airport has a single runway that is 2,748 meters (9,016 feet) long. It is also notably wide, at 60 meters, and was designed to handle emergency landings for Concorde and the Space Shuttle.
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If the cargo side of the operation proves successful, passenger routes to countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Cyprus and Malta could be introduced. It was reported three years ago that the airport’s owners were in discussions with budget airlines including Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air.
Mr Freudmann told Kent Online at the time: “Looking at the way the passenger market is going, we are confident we can persuade one or more low-cost carriers to base their planes here.
“It does not work for us if they fly in just once a day because that is not economic. If they base three or four planes at Manston, we will have rotations three or four times a day, as they have at Southend.
“That will cover our costs and bring passenger footfall through the terminal all day and every day. We will reinstate the twice daily KLM service to Amsterdam Schiphol that we had before and that will give business people in particular access to almost anywhere in the world.”
There has been no further update on this front since then, with RiverOak not responding to the Mirror’s request for one this month.
However, the thriving activity at nearby airports Luton and Stansted suggests there could be sufficient demand for additional passenger flights in the region.
“Opening an airport – even one like Manston which already has in place a full-length runway, taxiways and airport buildings – takes a huge amount of preparation and planning first and so it will be many months before we are ready to welcome construction teams on site,” a post earlier this year on the RiverOak website reads.
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This year and next, survey work will be carried out at the airport site, with the aim of finalising “the airport master plan – a process which we expect to conclude in early 2026”. During that time, a public consultation into possible flight routes will be launched.
“In early 2028, we expect construction works to be complete and recruitment for operational roles to begin to allow us to assemble the team and begin detailed preparations for reopening later on in 2028,” the post adds.
Opposition to the proposal to revamp the airport has been loud and coordinated, with groups such as Don’t Save Manston Airport noting that the travel hub previously failed commercially and arguing that it will do again. They have argued for increased aviation capacity is bad for the environment.
RiverOak, which purchased the site for £14million, has previously said there are plans to start by operating five cargo flights per day.
Despite planners recommending refusal, the refurbishment plans for Manston Airport were given the go-ahead in 2023. The Planning Inspectorate had concerns that the airport wouldn’t offer services “additional to, or different from” other airports, it would negatively impact the environment and increase pressure on local roads.
Since 2015, following its closure after years of financial losses, the airport has been utilised as a lorry park to alleviate temporary issues with cross-Channel traffic. The last scheduled flight from Manston departed for Amsterdam on 9 April 2014.
It was Kent’s only large airport, with the county also hosting smaller aviation facilities such as Rochester Airport and Lydd Airport.
The developer behind the proposed project has boasted that it will create a massive 650 construction roles and a further 2,000 permanent positions once fully operational, according to their website. They also highlight: “The project requires no government funding and has attracted several international investors who are prepared to invest £800 million in this deprived part of the country.”
Despite bypassing local authorities for planning permissions due to Manston’s classification as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, complications have arisen. After earning the Development Consent Order from the Secretary of State for Transport in 2020 to reopen as a cargo hub, legal wrangles ensued, leading to its initial quashing, resubmission, and eventual regranting, as reported by the Kent Messenger.
During the tumultuous era of the Second World War, Manston airfield nearly faced obliteration due to intense bombardment and harboured numerous unexploded ordnances. Situated close to the front lines, it served as an emergency landing site for extensively damaged aircraft.