An industry leading haulage firm is close to completing the purchase of Carlisle Airport, which could signal a major redevelopment of the regional hub.Stobart Group is finishing an agreement requested by Carlisle city council, which verifies that it intends to perform a £25 million programme to improve the airport’s runways and passenger terminal.The transport organisation already owns a conditional agreement to purchase the regional airport and the area’s local council previously approved a planning application submitted by Stobart, which legally binds the firm to attempt to attract commercial passengers.

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The proposed development of a third runway at London Heathrow Airport will not affect service standards, according to leading consumer aviation group.Citing the examples of Paris and Amsterdam, the Air Transport Council (ATC) suggested that airports with greater passenger capacity do not necessarily have worse baggage handling and security processes than their smaller counterparts.This is particularly relevant for the UK’s largest airport, which was discovered to have the longest wait for bags of any international aviation hub and the second most thorough security in a recent poll by the travel website WAYN.

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UK passengers are split over their support for the construction of a third runway at London Heathrow Airport.That is according to a new poll conducted by the travel firm Holiday Extras, which disclosed that 49 per cent of the people questioned were in favour of the expansion of the UK’s busiest airport, seeing it as “vital” to the expansion of the country’s economy.Many travellers were also opposed to the third runway, which will increase annual flights to more than 700,000, with 21 per cent citing environmental concerns and a further 20 per cent expressing worries about its impact on local citizens.

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The private equity group 3i has quit the race to become the next owner of London Gatwick Airport, after struggling to raise the required capital.Citing concerns over the price being asked, 3i Infrastructures has dropped out of the bidding for the UK’s second busiest airport, leaving four consortiums left in the running.London Gatwick is being sold by its owners BAA for an asking price of £2 billion – though no bidders are believed to have matched this valuation – in preparation for a Competition Commission ruling on its monopoly of airports in the south of England.

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