Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Take off: Flights from Kent to Europe by 2028?
Flights could be taking off from Kent to popular holiday destinations such as Spain and the Canary Islands within the next five years, airport bosses hope. It is envisaged one million passengers could travel through Thanet’s Manston Airport each year as those overseeing its relaunch say they are set to resume talks with the big budget airlines.
Bosses claim the project to reopen the site could see it operating as a passenger airport once again by 2028, with bosses hoping to attract budget airlines to offer flights to Europe.
It comes after a judicial review of the decision to allow the site near Ramsgate to be transformed into a cargo hub was rejected by a High Court judge last week – paving the way for the airport’s revival.
Now, bosses from Riveroak Strategic Partners – the firm pushing ahead with the scheme have revealed their ambitions to launch the “state-of-the-art” air freight hub in early-2026. The firm’s director, Tony Freudmann, says work that was put on hold until the judicial review had been determined can now resume. A public consultation is expected to be held this summer before construction work begins next year - which is set to last until the end of 2025. Mr Freudmann says the launch date of the passenger air
port “will depend on the demand from low-cost carriers, like Ryanair, easyjet and Wizz Air”. “We’re designing the airport so if they want to come and we can agree to a certain commercial relationship, they could be there right at the beginning when the cargo starts or follow a year or two later,” he said.
“We will insist they have to base aircraft at Manston.” Mr Freudmann says the airport did not have passenger aircraft based there before its 2014 closure, which caused long spells where the terminal was empty and “commercially unsuccessful”.
“The plan is for a low-cost carrier or two to come,” he added. “People will remember Dutch airline KLM, which wasn’t based at Manston but flew in and out twice a day and connected to Amsterdam at Schiphol Airport.
We’re pretty sure they’ll come back.”
Mr Freudmann says discussions with low-budget airlines are set to resume after they were grounded due to the legal challenge lodged last year.
As part of the project, that’s expected to cost between £400m and £500m, the old terminal building will have to be demolished as it is “past its life expectancy”.
“It will be a modern, passenger-friendly, but relatively small terminal,” added Mr Freudman. A Wizz Air spokesman said the airline “does not comment on speculation”, but “continually reviews its routes, bases and opportunities to expand”. A spokesman for easyjet said it currently has no plans to operate from Manston. Ryanair did not respond to a request for comment.