Heathrow-Newquay flights: Taxpayers to subsidise new Flybe route by £10 per round-trip

Cornish airport gets better connections than Leeds Bradford, Inverness and many other UK airports

Flybe is launching the new London to Cornwall link (Flybe)

Taxpayers are to subsidise a new air link between Cornwall Airport Newquay and Heathrow.

From 31 March 2019 Flybe will shuttle the 210 miles from the Cornish airport, which is shared with RAF St Mawgan, four times a day.

Around 170,000 passengers are predicted to use the service each year. Over the first four years of the link, the Department for Transport and Cornwall Council will each pay up to £1.7m, representing a subsidy of £5 per passenger – or £10 for a round-trip.

Each departure will receive almost £300 in subsidy. The prediction assumes that three-quarters of seats on each flight will be filled.

The current thrice-daily link with Gatwick, which is also subsidised, will end.

The slots at Heathrow, which is the busiest airport in Europe, are part of an allocation which British Airways was required to surrender after taking over BMI in 2012.

The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said: “Maintaining and enhancing air routes that help bring together the UK is one of the key benefits of any expansion at Heathrow.

“This new route will see the people of the southwest profit from a direct connection into our national hub airport even before it expands, building on the government’s ongoing commitment to the Newquay route, protecting choice and strengthening trade and travel opportunities for the whole UK.”

The Cornish airport’s managing director, Al Titterington, said: “By having direct flights to Heathrow, it grows the strength of Newquay and Cornwall’s brand abroad, which is great for the local business community and those wanting to visit our beautiful county.”

John Holland Kaye, Heathrow’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to secure a more regular service to Newquay, connecting exporters from Cornwall to global markets through Heathrow and making it easier for inward investors, tourists and students from all over the world to get there.”

While the average aircraft using Heathrow is a jet with around 200 seats, Flybe will use 78-seat Q400 turboprop aircraft on the service.

The airline is losing around £7,000 per hour, and last week announced it was in talks with prospective buyers. Both easyJet and Ryanair have told The Independent they are not interested in buying Flybe.

Roy Kinnear, the airline’s chief commercial officer, said: “The decision confirms that Flybe is a vital part of the UK’s transport infrastructure.”

The move will either encourage or dismay other UK airports who have fewer or no connections with Heathrow. British Airways recently cut back its three-times-daily link from Leeds Bradford to one or two flights a day.

Newquay will also be better connected to Heathrow than Inverness, which will have a maximum of three flights a day next summer.

Durham Tees Valley, which is further from Heathrow than Newquay is, lost its link with the airport a decade ago.

Liverpool, Prestwick, Belfast International and the Channel Islands have also lost connections with Heathrow.

City of Derry Airport in northwest Ireland also has subsidised flights to and from London, but these use Stansted rather than Heathrow.

If and when a third runway at Heathrow is built, it is anticipated that some of the additional slots will be “ring-fenced” to increase the number of domestic routes.

The Regional and Business Airports Group, representing 40 UK airports, said: “It is crucial that the 15 per cent of slots allocated on the new runway are for unserved and underserved (less than two services per day) routes.”

Cornwall Newquay Airport recently announced a summer 2019 link with Copenhagen. Sales have proved so buoyant that extra flights have been added.