Jet2 to blame for Blackpool Airport's failure, says councillor

Blackpool Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, Cllr John Jones has issued a further statement to update local residents on the situation at Blackpool Airport.

In his statement, Jones said that while Jet2 have been operating profitably, it has experienced annual losses of £2 million at the airport.

The airport’s owners, Balfour Beatty, tried to take legal action against Jet2 in order to reduce the imbalance of this relationship but all proceedings failed.

Jet2 were planning to reduce their Blackpool flight numbers further next year, Jones believed it would be “difficult” to see how anyone would have been prepared to take on that arrangement.

Jones said that the contract was “an extremely onerous one” with unsustainable high fixed costs for Balfour Beatty.

Cllr John Jones said: “We appreciate that all the bad news of the last week has left many people across the Fylde Coast concerned about the future of Blackpool Airport

“However, there is good reason to believe that there is a bright future ahead.

“We met with Balfour Beatty again on Friday to discuss their plans and the latest position regarding the potential new investors.

“They confirmed that interest in the site remains high with a number of parties expressing an interest with a range of proposals.

“Negotiations are ongoing and we now await further news on the progress of those discussions.

“Jet2 have to operate in the interests of shareholders and we understand that, but their stance has certainly not been supportive of continuing operations in Blackpool.

“Therefore this parting was somewhat inevitable and we want to place on record our frustration that more has not been done by Jet2, in particular, to make the airport work for all parties.

“We also feel more could have been done by the airport operators to try to bring in new routes and airlines.

“Going forward, as well as staying close to negotiations, we will be attending a meeting in Westminster next week with MPs, Government Ministers and other bodies where the situation will be discussed, considering ways in which new funding could be accessed.

“Meanwhile, our focus needs to be on the people affected most directly, we will also be looking to offer further support to airport staff, on top of that already offered by Job Centre Plus.

“A number of potential opportunities have been identified, the most recent example being potential work with Blackpool Transport, which may be helpful to staff who may lose their jobs.”