Commercial flights will return to Kent

Commercial flights run by lowcost airlines such as Ryanair and EasyJet will eventually operate from Manston, bosses have confirmed.

Plans to open the former airport site near Ramsgate as a global air freight hub were given the green light last week, with the aim for an April 2023 launch.

And in what will be welcome news to those wanting air travel on their doorstep, Manston owner RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) has confirmed passenger flights will start running after the cargo operations begin, possibly as soon as 2024.

RSP director Tony Freudmann says these flights will be a small operation catering for between one million and 1.5 million passengers a year.

“We’ll have a passenger terminal which will support the low-cost operators, people like Ryanair and EasyJet,” he said. “We’ll be doing the cargo traffic from 2023 and it may be that passengers will follow on a year or two years later. “We may have to push that back a bit because of Covid-19 and the impact that’s had and while the passenger side gets itself back together again.”