Newquay airport set for busy summer with a record 10 carriers

Cornwall’s airport has links from Switzerland and Germany

Distant dream: a Flybe aircraft at Newquay airport before the airline collapsed (Simon Calder)

Newquay airport has been closed to commercial flights for three months during lockdown. But services are set to resume at the end of April – with more airlines than ever connecting Cornwall’s airport with the rest of the UK and abroad.

Swiss airline, Edelweiss, has just revealed it will fly from Zurich to Newquay each Sunday morning through the summer from 4 July to 26 September.

Flights will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft. Judging from the fares being charged, the link appears to be selling well. A round-trip from Zurich to Newquay on the first available date, 4 July, returning a week later, is currently priced at 367 Swiss francs (£282).

Tim Jeans, a director of the airport, said: “As you can imagine, this flight is aimed at inbound Swiss passengers. Zurich is German-speaking, so the novels of Rosamunde Pilcher are as well known in that part of the world as they are in Germany.

“Edelweiss will be the 10th airline serving Cornwall this summer.

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“In addition to Edelweiss, Loganair, easyJet and Eastern Airways are new too.

“And from what we hear, there may be more to come.”

At present all overseas holidays from the UK are illegal, and within England overnight stays away from home are also banned until 12 April.

Commercial operations are due to begin again at Newquay on 30 April, when Eastern Airways starts flying from Leeds Bradford and Loganair’s link from Edinburgh commences.

On 1 May Ryanair begins its summer series of flights connecting the north coast of Cornwall with the south coast of Portugal. The inaugural departure from Newquay to Faro is currently selling at just £20 one way.

The first Ryanair flight to Alicante departs the following day.

All international leisure travel from the UK is banned until 17 May at the earliest.

Loganair continues its expansion with new links on 3 May from Aberdeen, Manchester and Newcastle, with Teesside four days later.

Both Manchester and Teesside will see competition from easyJet and Eastern Airways respectively, later in May; easyJet also starts a link with Glasgow on 25 May. This 376-mile link is scheduled to take 95 minutes – compared with a rail journey at least nine hours longer.

Skybus resumes its 20-minute hop to St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly on 17 May, the first day when hotel stays in England become legal.

Aer Lingus starts flying in on from Dublin and Cork on 31 May and 5 June respectively. Eurowings establishes the first Continental link, from Dusseldorf on 5 June.

The very obvious missing link, between London and Newquay, appears on 27 June, when British Airways starts up from Heathrow airport. But unlike the short-lived Flybe service, which ran four times a day between Heathrow and Newquay, BA will initially fly only five times a week.

Flybe collapsed in March 2020.

The UK airline schedule analyst, Sean Moulton, said: “Newquay has had to diversify its network since Flybe collapsed. The airport has attracted Eastern Airways and Loganair to operate many regional routes as well as attracting new airlines to launch summer seasonal routes to the airport.

“This summer should be successful for Newquay, but how the airport will do outside the summer peak could be a concern.”

Blue Islands launches to Jersey and Guernsey on 28 June.