What went wrong at Newquay Airport?
THE three-week closure of Newquay Airport that cost council taxpayers more than £1 million happened because of a lack of communication and risk management by council chiefs, a new report has revealed. The now disbanded Cornwall County Council, which owned the airport, had been due to take over running the airport from RAF chiefs in November. But because it failed to get the correct licence from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in time for the RAF pulling out on November 30, the airport was closed down. Thousands of angry passengers had their flights cancelled and the shutdown cost the council more than £1 million. Yesterday, John Mills, who carried out an inquiry into what went wrong, revealed his findings before a packed press conference at County Hall, Truro. While insisting that the council had done a “terrific” job in ensuring Cornwall had an airport, he highlighted the problems that led to the disaster.
