Creator of Spoof Welsh international airport hopes to go ‘legit’ with fundraiser

A man who spent thousands on a sign which has advertised an imaginary airport on one of the main roads in mid Wales for decades is hoping to ‘go legit’.

For some 20 years, a billboard for Llandegley International Airport has been a landmark talking point on the A44, near the Powys village of Crossgates.

Sadly, Radnorshire doesn’t actually have its own international airport; the sign being the brainchild of a former editor of the mid Wales newspaper the Brecon & Radnor Express, Nicholas Whitehead, who has spent some £25,000 over the years to erect and maintain the sign.

Since 2002, drivers travelling eastwards on the A44 from Rhayader have been advised they would soon be approaching the entrance to terminals 1 and 3 of Llandegley International Airport, a few miles away, only to end up at a field.

Mr Whitehead said he hasn’t had a single complaint about the Wrexham Signs-made billboard promising an international airport, an aidea which started off as a wild conversation with friends one evening in nearby Llandegley.

He’s decided to call it a day on the long-running joke, but now hopes to go ‘legit,’ setting up a gofundme fundraiser page in the hopes of creating “a proper sign for the airport”.

“For 20 years, I’ve been funding the famous sign on the A44 near Crossgates in Radnorshire. In that time, the airport has become firmly established in the hearts and minds of locals and visitors alike. The sign is regarded as part of our heritage. 

“So now it’s established, it makes sense for the establishment to take it on. Until November 2022, the sign lived on an advertising billboard but now we think it’s time to go ‘legit’ and get this thing officially recognised. 

“We will ask CADW, Powys County Council and the Welsh Government to sort out the bureaucracy and authorise the erection of a proper sign for the airport. But in these times of austerity and cut-backs we will not be asking them to pay for it. That’s where you come in.

“The UK Government website says it costs about £8,000 to erect a sign on a roadside verge. So that’s what we’re asking for. Let’s give our favourite airport the sign it deserves.”

To date, some £670 has been raised.

Flying high

Llandegley International Airport also has a substantial following on social media, with thousands of followers on Facebook and Twitter engaging on updates about the airport’s environmental credentials, and the “top secret” Terminal 2.