Inquiry calls for investment in airport terminal

Cornwall Airport Newquay's terminal is "too small" and has limited customer spend and experience, according to Cornwall Council.

The local authority's economic growth and development scrutiny committee met on Tuesday to come up with a strategic vision to secure the long-term future of the airport and maximise the potential of its surrounding land.

The 650-acre council-owned site costs £4 million to run per year and the scrutiny committee heard it was unlikely taxpayers would ever not have to contribute to the cost.

Councillor Leigh Frost, who oversaw the inquiry, said: "We're proposing there should be more capital investment into the terminal building to give us a better departure lounge."

He added: "The big thing is the terminal is too small. It offers limited opportunities.

"One of the things an airport makes money from is the customer while they're there.

"We just do not have a terminal where we can maximise the opportunities for customer spend and experience."

Frost added that he believed the airport estate focused too much on aerospace industries, as reported by Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"We need to widen that out because there are businesses that would like to be on the estate that don't necessarily align with that vision but if we've got someone making use of the land we can lever out an income to help reduce the subsidy," he said.

The economic growth committee agreed to all the recommendations put forward, which included significant capital investment in the terminal building, and a review of the airport's car parks and organisational structure.

The report concluded: "While some subsidy may always be required due to the nature of the airport's operations, the focus should shift to generating additional income from short-term rents, long-term rents, land exchanges, capital receipts, and business rates to reduce reliance on subsidy."

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