Lydd - London Ashford Airport

Infobox Airport
name = London Ashford Airport
nativename =
nativename-a =
nativename-r = Lydd Airport


image-width =
caption =
IATA = LYX
ICAO = EGMD
type = Public
owner =
operator = London Ashford Airport Ltd.
city-served = London, Lydd, Ashford, Rye, Hythe, Folkestone, Shepway
location = Lydd
elevation-f = 146
elevation-m = 45
coordinates = Coord|50|57|22|N|000|56|21|E|type:airport
website =
metric-elev =
metric-rwy =
r1-number = 03/21
r1-length-f = 4,938
r1-length-m = 1,505
r1-surface = Grooved Asphalt
stat-year =
stat1-header =
stat1-data =
stat2-header =
stat2-data =
footnotes =

London Ashford Airport or Lydd Airport Airport codes|LYX|EGMD is located 1.2 nautical miles (2.2 km) northeast of the town of Lydd and 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) south of Ashford in Kent, South East England.

Lydd Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P858) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (London Ashford Airport Limited) [ [http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/375/srg_asd_ordinarylicences.pdf Civil Aviation Authority Aerodrome Ordinary Licences] ] .

Lydd Air is based at the airport, offering regular flights to Le Touquet in northern France.

London Ashford Airport was previously used for air ferry services, and was known as Lydd Ferryfield. The airlines operating at that time included Silver City (operating Douglas Dakotas) and British United Air Ferries (BUAF) - later becoming British United Airways, (BUA) - which flew Bristol Freighters, Superfreighters and Aviation Traders Carvair aircraft, the latter three types being used for transporting cars and their occupants across the English Channel. One common destination was Le Touquet. During the 1980s the airport was bought by Hards Travel from Solihull, who used the airport (Along with Coventry Airport)as its base for its holiday operations to Spain, Italy and Austria, using Dart Herald and Viscount Aircraft flying to Buevais in France, where customers where transferred on to coaches for the remainder of the holiday. During this time they had 14 flights a day from the airport, and used the large fields surrounding the airport for car parking. The main Brand they traded under was Summer-Plan, and in the winter Ski-Plan, as well as HTS Holidays.

The future

The airport is hoping to expand with a multimillion pound new terminal building and runway extension program. The new terminal would be able to cater for 500,000 passengers a year. The runway extension will not necessarily allow larger aircraft to operate from the airport, but will allow those that can already operate to do so with a greater payload and fuel weight (hence giving them a greater range). The plans for the new terminal and runway extension were submitted to the local council and are available from UKPlanning. The new terminal plans can be found [http://www.ukplanning.com/ukp/showCaseFile.do?councilName=Shepway+District+Council&appNumber=Y06/1647/SH here] and the runway extension plans [http://www.ukplanning.com/ukp/showCaseFile.do?councilName=Shepway+District+Council&appNumber=Y06/1648/SH here] .

The plans have generated a significant amount of local [ [http://kentnet.org.uk/laag/ Lydd Airport Action Group (LAAG) Homepage ] ] [ [http://www.lyddairport-noexpansion.co.uk/ Lydd Airport - No Expansion ] ] [ [http://www.cprekent.org.uk Campaign to Protect Rural England Kent ] ] and national opposition [ [http://www.rspb.org.uk/ The RSPB ] ] , with concerns expressed over the potential impact on local birdlife and the Dungeness nature reserve [ [http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/d/dungeness/index.asp The RSPB: Dungeness ] ] .

At 60 miles from Charing Cross, the airport is roughly twice as far away as London's other outlying airports (Southend 35 miles, Stansted 30 miles, Luton 27 miles). In the future high speed trains from Ashford International will reach London in 35 minutes, though that station remains 20-30 minutes by coach from the airport.

Airlines and destinations

*Lydd Air (Amsterdam, Brussels, Calais, Channel Islands, Cherbourg, Dinard, Ostend, Paris, Le Touquet, Rennes) (pleasure flights, though Le Touquet is a scheduled service).

Flying clubs

Lydd Aero Club is a Civil Aviation Authority registered training facility. It was established in February 2001 by three enthusiastic private pilots to provide as many aviation related activities as possible, conduct flight training leading to the issue of a National Private Pilots Licence (NPPL), a JAR private pilot licence (PPL) and to offer aircraft for hire to qualified pilots.

References

Further reading

*United Kingdom AIP

External links

* [http://www.lydd-airport.co.uk Lydd Airport]
* [http://www.apda61.dsl.pipex.com/Av2/B170Cvr.jpgA Bristol Freighter & ATL Carvair pictured at Lydd Ferryfield in 1965]
* [http://www.lyddaero.co.uk Lydd Aero Club]
* [http://www.ukplanning.com UK Planning]
* [http://www.shepway.gov.uk Shepway District Council]