Carlisle Lake District airport’s owners Stobart Group have confirmed a June 4 start date for flights to and from the three cities following a £4.95 million grant to kick-start services. Stobart owns Southend airport and operates Stobart Air, which flies as Aer Lingus Regional and operates some services for Flybe.
Southend airport would seem to be favourite for the London connection, but a Stobart spokesperson declined to reveal which airports the new flights would serve or whether Stobart Air would operate them. He added: “It is to be confirmed.”
The flights will be the airport’s first commercial services since 1993 and follow a period of investment in conjunction with Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership.
Cumbria currently receives 41.5 million visitors a year. Kate Willard, Stobart Group’s head of corporate projects, said: “We look forward to working with partners in the visitor economy over these next months to help develop packages and promotions to make sure that our air services match the needs of our visitors.”
As well as inbound traffic, Stobart hopes it will connect passengers from the Cumbria region to onward destinations from the three airports the flights will serve.
