Plymouth City Airport

Plymouth City Airport
IATA: PLH ICAO: EGHD
Summary
Airport type	Defunct
Owner	Plymouth City Council
Operator	Sutton Harbour Holdings
Serves	Plymouth
Location	Plymouth, Devon, England
Opened	July 1931 (1931-07)
Closed	23 December 2011 (2011-12-23)
Built	1925 (1925)
Elevation AMSL	476 ft / 145 m
Coordinates	50°25′22″N 004°06′21″W / 50.42278°N 4.10583°W / 50.42278; -4.10583 (Plymouth City Airport)
Website	www.suttonharbourholdings.co.uk/about-us/businesses/regeneration/former-plymouth-airport
Map
EGHD Location in Devon
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 13/31 1,160 3,806 Asphalt
Statistics (2009)
Movements 19,763 Passengers 157,933
Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1] Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority[2]

Plymouth City Airport (IATA: PLH, ICAO: EGHD) was an airport located within the City of Plymouth 3.5 NM (6.5 km; 4.0 mi) north northeast of the city centre in Devon, England at Derriford (formerly Roborough). The airport opened on this site in 1925 and was officially opened by the future king Edward VIII, as Prince of Wales, in 1931.

The airport is owned by Plymouth City Council and leased to Plymouth-based company Sutton Harbour Group under its wholly owned subsidiary Plymouth City Airport Limited that has directors who also have interests / directorships in Newquay Airport. The company have submitted several claims for significant maintenance sums for maintaining the site that appear contrary to the actual activities visible on the property.

In 2009, 157,933 passengers passed through the airport, a sharp increase of 34.0% on the 2008 total of 117,823 making Plymouth one of the few UK airports experiencing significant growth during the period.^[2] However, following the withdrawal of London flights in early 2011, the airport's owners said passenger totals had fallen to fewer than 100 a day. The London Stock Exchange was notified on 28 April 2011 that the airport would close by the end of the year.^[3]

Plymouth City Airport had a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P687) that allowed flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction, and was part of the Strasser Scheme.

The airport closed and ceased all operations on 23 December 2011. Since that time it has been mothballed with the aviation infrastructure and navigation aids retained pending an attempt by the leaseholder to change the use of the site in planning so that it can be disposed of for residential development.

As result of the announced closure a group from the Plymouth business community initiated a campaign to protect the airport site. The group known as Viable delivered a petition to the city council with more than 38,000 signatures objecting to the Airport closure and asking the council to protect the site.^[4]

A full Council debate on the petition concluded with a unanimous vote in support of the airport's retention. There were just two abstentions. Accordingly, in 2014 Plymouth City Council decided to safeguard the site for future general aviation use in the forthcoming Plymouth Plan on the basis of evidence provided in the report on which the council had accepted the airport's closure.

Having achieved its campaign objectives, in 2015 Viable wound up its campaign and created FlyPlymouth Ltd with the objective of acquiring and reopening Plymouth airport.^[5] FlyPlymouth proposes to operate Plymouth Airport a general and business aviation airport not relying on commercial passenger services, the withdrawal of which led to the airport's closure.