Coventry Airport to target business and cargo
19.10.08
Coventry Airport is looking to turn itself into a cargo and corporate travel hub after its main passenger carrier abandoned the airport, the Birmingham Post reports. Holiday giant Thomsonfly said it would be dropping Coventry as a base in just a few weeks, leaving the airport with barely any passenger flights. But airport chief executive Chris Orphanou said more commercial flights would take up the slack - and promised passenger flights would return to Coventry.
Mr Orphanou said: ‘OK this [losing Thomsonfly] is a big event for us. But from a guy who’s run airports, I wouldn’t say this is a common problem, but it’s a regular event in aviation. We are going to have to retrench and look at our operations. We have continued to operate cargo, and now we are going to amplify that. By virtue of Coventry’s location we also provide ideal opportunities for corporate aviation facilities.'
‘Thomsonfly was a big carrier, the biggest carrier we had here. Effectively the whole passenger business will go. But I absolutely believe Coventry will carry on as a passenger airport. We have a future, we are just going to try to develop.’
Mr Orphanou told the newspaper that while the loss of Thomsonfly was a big blow to the airport, it was also a big opportunity for carriers to find a new base, and he was confident that someone would take over the role. ‘If you look at the positive side, its now effectively a clean sheet from which other people can make that a commercial and lucrative business case. We have lost Thomsonfly and someone else will be coming in, the challenge is when.’
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