Humberside Airport

Humberside Airport
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IATA: HUY – ICAO: EGNJ
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Eastern Airways
Operator	Humberside International Airport Ltd.
Serves	East Riding of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Kingston upon Hull
Location	Kirmington, Lincolnshire
Elevation AMSL	121 ft / 37 m
Coordinates
Website	humbersideairport.com
Map
EGNJ Location in Lincolnshire
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 02/20 2,196 7,205 Asphalt & Concrete 08/26 860 2,822 Asphalt
Statistics (2015 - Provisional)
Passengers 221,203 Passenger change 14-15 7.5% Aircraft Movements (2014) 27,647 Movements change 13-14 1.0%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority

Humberside Airport (IATA: HUY, ICAO: EGNJ) is an international airport situated at Kirmington in the Borough of North Lincolnshire, England, 10 NM (19 km; 12 mi) west of Grimsby and around 15 mi (24 km) from both Kingston upon Hull and Scunthorpe, on the A18. Humberside Airport was owned by Manchester Airports Group (the largest UK-owned airport group) from 1999 until 1 August 2012, when it was sold to the Eastern Group of companies. North Lincolnshire Council retains a minority of shares in the Airport.

According to Airports Council International, Humberside Airport was voted in 2010 the best European airport serving fewer than two million passengers annually.

History

The airport was previously a Royal Air Force base, RAF Kirmington, opened in 1941 during World War II, from which No. 166 Squadron RAF operated the Avro Lancaster. The site was abandoned after the war in 1945, and lay unused until 1974 when the local council re-opened the site as Kirmington Airport. When the local area was renamed Humberside following local government re-organisation in England, the name was changed to Humberside Airport. The main runway, designated 03/21 (since redesignated 02/20) was extended to its current length in 1992, allowing operation of much larger aircraft.

In 2008, MAG announced that it was conducting a review of its strategy for Humberside Airport, and all options including disposal were under consideration. Initially it announced plans to sell Humberside Airport after nine years of ownership. In December 2008, MAG announced it intended to retain Humberside Airport, due to a number of investments, such as the new £1.6 million perishables hub, coupled with a surge in passenger numbers and little interest from potential bidders.

MAG sold its 83.7% share of Humberside in 2012 for £2.3 million to Eastern Group to focus on the larger airports in its portfolio. It was later revealed that MAG had bought the airport for almost £8 million more in 1999.

Operations

The airport faces competition for flights from East Midlands Airport (70 mi (110 km)), Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield (28 mi (45 km)) which opened in 2005 and Leeds Bradford International Airport (74 mi (119 km)); all of these airports offer a substantially wider range of scheduled flights than Humberside Airport, although Robin Hood Airport has also seen large reductions in holiday flights during the last 12 months. Passenger numbers at the airport peaked in the early to mid-2000s when the facility was used by around 500,000 passengers per year, however this had fallen to around 275,000 passengers in 2011. Cargo throughput at Humberside, however, reached record levels in 2011 at over 1,100 tonnes, around 10 times the level seen in 2005.

In October 2013 SAS Group began daily operations to Copenhagen, only to withdraw the service in April 2014 because of disappointing passenger numbers. However, Sun Air launched twice-weekly flights to Aalborg and Billund in April 2016, in order to support the off-shore wind industry in the Humber and Jutland locations.

The airport is also used to service the offshore gas storage and drilling operations for BP and Centrica Storage with over 8,000 air transport helicopter movements in 2011, the fourth highest in the UK. On 3 January 2013 it was reported that Bond Offshore Helicopters had been awarded a contract with Perenco and would start operating flights to Perenco's platforms in the Southern North Sea. This now means that the airport has three of the biggest UK Helicopter operators based at the airport. From 1 April 2015 Bristow Helicopters will also operate a UK Search and Rescue base at Humberside.

Humberside has one of the highest NEQ approval levels of any airport in Europe, and has seen significant growth in cargo throughput from 144 tonnes in 2007 to 1,132 tonnes in 2011. This was due to regular flights by Icelandair Cargo, which ceased to operate in 2012.

Humberside International has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P739) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. Humberside airport has a very high amount of general aviation activity, with 5 resident flying clubs and organisations offering fixed wing and rotary training. Weston Aviation opened in May 2011 a fixed based operation (FBO) at Humberside International airport. This will be the first dedicated FBO at the airport and the company has also opened a regional charter sales office at the airport to promote and develop the use of business and private aviation in the local Humberside region.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
BH Air	Seasonal charter: Burgas
British Airways operated by SUN-AIR	Aalborg, Billund
Eastern Airways	Aberdeen
Flybe	Seasonal: Jersey
Germania	Seasonal charter: Palma de Mallorca
jetXtra.com operated by BA CityFlyer	Seasonal charter: Alicante, Palma de Mallorca
KLM operated by KLM Cityhopper	Amsterdam
Thomson Airways	Tenerife–South (begins 7 November 2016)

Statistics

Passengers and movements

Humberside Airport Passenger Totals 2000-2015 (thousands)

Updated: 14 March 2016.

The memorial to 166 squadron at the door of the modern airport terminal

	Number of Passengers	Aircraft Movements	Cargo (tonnes)
2000	447,738	38,894	130
2001	435,473	39,858	157
2002	492,433	42,361	126
2003	517,692	39,318	945
2004	531,277	38,455	752
2005	460,930	36,839	114
2006	520,956	37,545	144
2007	468,522	38,797	144
2008	427,669	37,758	168
2009	336,649	35,060	241
2010	283,191	32,813	600
2011	274,609	26,599	1,132
2012	234,142	25,636	621
2013	236,083	27,178	153
2014	239,173	27,647
2015 (Provisional)	221,203	TBC	TBC
Source: CAA Official Statistics

Routes

10 busiest routes to and from Humberside Airport (2014)

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	% Change 2013 / 14
1	Netherlands - Amsterdam	118,143	3.9
2	United Kingdom - Oil rigs	52,294	3.4
3	United Kingdom - Aberdeen	36,595	7
4	Turkey - Dalaman	5,482	8.6
5	Bulgaria - Burgas	4,785	19.4
6	Tunisia - Enfidha	4,677	5.5
7	Jersey - Jersey	2,250	17.2
8	Spain - Alicante	1,714	43.3
9	Denmark - Copenhagen	1,535	56.9
10	Spain - Palma de Mallorca	828	89.1
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority [1]

Ground transport

Bus service

Barnetby Station with Alight here for Humberside Airport signage

An hourly daytime bus service operated by Stagecoach runs from Grimsby and Hull to the airport from Monday to Saturday, which is named as the "Humber Flyer" service. A local service, serving the villages surrounding the airport is run by Hornsby Travel from Monday to Friday.

Rail

The airport lies close to the South Humberside Main Line, which runs between Doncaster and the coast at Grimsby and Cleethorpes, running a few hundred metres to the north of the terminal. There is no stop on the line at this point and passengers must alight at the small, rural and unmanned Barnetby railway station some 2.5 miles (4 km) to the west of the airport, or proceed to Grimsby or Hull and use the bus service.

Other facilities

The airline Eastern Airways has its head office in the Schiphol House on the airport property. Links Air was based at the airport, but moved to Doncaster Sheffield Airport in 2014.

BAE Systems opened an aircraft maintenance academy at the airport in the autumn of 2015. It is a partnership with the Resource Group and is known as the R J Mitchell Academy, after the designer of the Spitfire aircraft.

In 2010 a temporary hotel was erected for the use by the gas and oil rig workers. However, this operation is not designed or licensed to operate as accommodation for normal passengers. This is a temporary structure run by Nightel, a locally based niche business, there will be a permanent structure built in the next five years once demand for the facility has been confirmed. A 103 bedroom hotel, to be operated under the Hampton by Hilton brand, is due to open next to Nightel in the summer of 2016.

Accidents and incidents

• 9 October 2013 - The passenger of Cessna 172 G-BCYR made a successful emergency landing at Humberside following the death of its pilot in flight. The passenger had no flying experience and was talked down by flying instructors. He had been on a local flight from Sandtoft Airfield, Lincolnshire when the pilot died. The incident formed the basis of a documentary broadcast in the United Kingdom by Channel 4 on 27 March 2014.

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website