As you know, these days I don't often get involved in aviation matters. I leave that to the Smegheads. But one of my eagle-eyed readers has spotted the Lydd Airport Action Group which is campaigning against a planning application to expand Kent's Other International Airport, pointing the finger at our very own Chas 'n' Dave International as 'operationally superior' to Lydd, even if the expansion goes ahead, quoting 'unrestricted airspace'.Now I may be wrong, but the last time I saw Romney Marsh it was mainly inhabited by sheep, as opposed to Ramsgate which is home to more listed buildings than Bath and more millionaires than a Moscow brothel. Sure, there's the small issue of a couple of nuclear power stations on the Lydd flight path, but really! I'm reliably informed by the rocket scientists at British Energy that all nuclear power stations are built to withstand the impact of a 747 anyway, so no problem there. Plus Lydd is soooooo much handier for the high speed Chunnel rail link!
Presumably the only real concern the Lydd Airport Action Group has is that 400 tonnes of low-flying, jet-propelled aluminium might blast the thatch off their twee, 16th Century hairy-roofed bastard. Which, er, is pretty much my concern actually. Except I've got a listed Victorian with Kent pegs. At least the Lyddites have been presented with a planning application. Here on Chavvy Island it's a quick council meeting and, whoops, 747s 24/7!
So in a spirit of tit-for-tat, I must now declare Lydd/London Ashford Airport the 'airport of the future'. And, in my capacity as an experienced consultant to the likes of British Airways, I shall be heartily recommending Lydd as London's Fourth Airport!
Lyddites' website
London Ashford Airport - Airport of the Future!
9 comments:
Why would someone want to fly close to a rail link with Europe, when they could just as easily fly to Europe?
Where else would they go when they got to Lydd? Brighton? Great if you're on a motorcycle, rather than an aeroplane!
We're almost duel-carriadgewayed from London to to Sandwich now, why not have an airport erected on top of Pfizer's effluent plant, or, across the road, on all that waste ground that used to be Richborough power staion, Astra fireworks, new car storage site then insurance 'write off' storage site/auction site?
The area has the thickest glut of fuel stations in Kent (three in the space of a few** hundred yards(meters)), so that should be handy!
Deal could cope with the noise. It'd have to by definition, wouldn't it?
**Few - not many, medium amount, lots!
Coke-Head
Dull person.
Lucy's remarks give me the perfect cue to talk about this effluent society! A second airport so close to Manston would be very dangerous surely? We could have knackered old jumbos colliding or near missing right over the millionaire's mansion. ECR would get plenty of bangs for his bucks quite literally?
Any more news on the Pfizer rumours circulating a couple of weeks back? I know some of those office blocks built at vast expense are less than fully occupied. It's said that the top floors of the newest ones have never been used since they were completed in 2001. That's despite knocking down the 1950s block which had the impressive American porch at the front. The biggest porch in Europe it was said, it should have been listed.
I wasn't suggesting that they keep the old airport. That would be just silly and, as you point out, dangerous!
No, no, I was thinking that they could dig out the runway at Manston, airlift it over to Richborough and pop up a new control tower.
Presto!
What could be simpler?
"..all nuclear power stations are built to withstand the impact of a 747 anyway"
This sounds suspiciously like: "nothing can possibly go wrong"...as they said at Chernobyl
No, seriously, Lydd is the best airport for Kent. Only sheep to bother, planes fly directly out to sea, no residents to upset. Bring it on!
Best for Ramsgate, you mean, not Kent.
Not good for sheep, which are easily startled!
I enjoy lamb very much, but it's less than best when flooded with adrenalin, unless you happen to be having sex with it, of course.
So, good for Ramsgate and good for perverts!
What more reason could you want, to develop an airport in the middle of nowhere?
Why have another airport at all??
Air travel is declining at ALL the passenger airports.
Grauniad 15th April:
"BAA acknowledged there was a wider trend of falling air traffic and pointed to a 13.6% decline in passenger numbers at European airports in February.
Traffic through Heathrow fell 7.5%, with Gatwick down 17.7% and Stansted falling nearly 16%. John Strickland, an industry consultant, said: "We are definitely seeing a trend of increasing decline and that trend is going to continue."
Nuff said. Stuff their airports and their runway while they're at it.
Anyone who can use an expression like 'increasing decline', really deserves listening to, don't they?
Post a Comment