New airport operators toast progress since takeover

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

A group of aviation enthusiasts which includes engineers, an accountant, said it was making good progress after taking charge of a council-owned airport.

Swansea Airport Stakeholders Alliance began operating the the airport on a temporary basis in September after the previous operator gave up its lease.

The alliance said a Spitfire flight experience company was due to start flights from the airport this spring, and that talks were being held with an operator which offered wing walks for thrill-seekers.

The airport’s kitchen and cafe has a new tenant four evenings a week – Thai food business Thai Bach Express – and continues to operate as The Whirlybird Cafe from Wednesday to Sunday during the day.

Pilots

Alliance chairman Bob Oliver said it was talking to many other businesses and organisations about the 450-acre site at Fairwood, Gower, and was already attracting more visiting pilots. “The word has spread that you get a warm welcome here from a group of enthusiasts,” he said.

Mr Oliver and alliance treasurer Ralph Bettany said it has been very much a case of everyone mucking in.

“I came here at 6am on September 6 (the day the lease began) and started the process of finding keys and opening doors to see what was behind them,” said Mr Oliver. “We knew it was going to be a challenge. Our volunteers turned up en masse. We put our shoulders to the wheel and started the way we intended to carry on.”

He said a phone line was installed, new aviation fuel arrangements made, and training organised for volunteers. Insurance is in place, new equipment donated and signs installed, the driveway improved, and the airport fire truck exchanged for a smaller, newer replacement. The alliance has also acquired hundreds of litres of paint and been loaned a digger to improve runway drainage.

Mr Oliver said the group, which has 150-plus members and a five-strong board, has received a lot of support from among other people the accountable manager at Sleap Airfield, Shropshire.

Airport managers

Swansea Airport now has two airport managers on a job share, a head of safety and an accountable manager – all on a voluntary basis. Mr Oliver said the alliance was liaising closely with an aviation consultant appointed by the council and working through a list of tasks to put the airport in a position where it could gain a licence, should one be sought, from regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The council intends to look for a long-term operator via a competitive tender process, and this means the alliance can’t offer better terms than it has itself to potential new businesses. Mr Bettany said the group was effectively “baby sitting” the facility for now, and that it has a very good relationship with two previous managers when the airport was run by a company called Swansea Airport Ltd.

The alliance is operating on a voluntary, not-for-profit basis and will bid for a long-term lease when the time comes. Mr Oliver said he had presented a quarterly report to the council last month and that the alliance had met all the set targets and exceeded its own financial expectations.

In his view the airport has great potential to benefit the wider community by providing space for charitable, educational and business organisations. He said part of the site could be used for tree-planting to improve biodiversity and that he had suggested to council leader Rob Stewart that the large car park could accommodate a park and ride for people heading into Swansea from Gower.

The airport has two runways and is used by private pilots, two flying schools and a skydiving company. Land there originally formed part of Gower’s Fairwood Common and was transferred to Swansea Council’s predecessor in 1938. It was requisitioned during the Second World War for use as an air defence airfield, and then returned to civilian use.

Asked who would operate the fire truck in the event of a fire, Mr Oliver said volunteers were waiting for training to certify they were qualified to use it. “A whole raft of risk assessments have been done, and we have mitigation measures for all of them,” he said. “If there was an incident involving a fire there are measures that would allow us to deal with it quickly and efficiently.” He added that a 999 call would immediately be put though to the fire service, and that flight businesses at the airport had safety management systems of their own.

The council said it was following the alliance’s progress, while the CAA is keeping in regular contact with both parties. The airport is currently unlicensed but this doesn’t affect the aviation activities taking place there.

‘Issues’

The alliance took over after the council announced a change of operator was imminent following a “range of issues” with previous operator Swansea Airport Ltd which resulted in the lease being brought to an end. Speaking at the time Swansea Airport Ltd director Roy Thomas said he had subsidised the facility for years, had been taking steps to rectify issues, and that he intended to bid for a future long-term lease.

Meanwhile Mr Oliver, 77, said he was putting in 50 to 60 hours of unpaid work a week at the airport. He said as a pilot he and others in the alliance had always felt that changes could be made in its operation. “The opportunity presented itself, and we said it’s time to actually act,” he said.

Hugh Griffiths, of Thai Bach Express, which used to have a restaurant called Thai Bach in Brynmill, said the airport cafe venture was mostly takeaways although people could sit in. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised and delighted with the response of our customers old and new,” he said.