{"id":746564,"date":"2026-02-06T16:02:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/746564\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T16:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:02:20","slug":"this-abandoned-airport-near-london-is-planning-new-flights-and-could-reopen-by-2029","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/746564\/","title":{"rendered":"This Abandoned Airport Near London is Planning New Flights and Could Reopen by 2029"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in the day, Manston Airport\u00a0near Margate<\/a>\u00a0used to fly Brits\u00a0to their holidays in Europe, with destinations including Italy<\/a>, Portugal<\/a> and Amsterdam<\/a>. The airport closed its doors in 2014, but in 2025 it announced it was going to make a comeback<\/a>. Now there\u2019s been an update, as owners said the airport could reopen in 2029.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Originally built in 1916 as an RAF base, Manston also operated as a commercial terminal until shutting down more than a decade ago. In recent years it\u2019s operated as a car park, hosted aviation events and was even the set for the 2022 film\u00a0Empire of Light<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Originally tipped to open in 2028, the return of Manston Airport has been pushed back by a year\u00a0due to the \u2018complexity of planning work, changes to the cost of the works and turbulence within the financial markets\u2019, Tony Freudman from airport owners RiverOak Strategic Partners (RSP) said.<\/p>\n

Freudman told Kent Online<\/a>\u00a0that Manston could reopen as a cargo airport in 2029, but it could still be a few years until passenger flights return to the terminal.\u00a0The \u00a3750 million project is reportedly in its final stages, with the airport in final discussions with a\u00a0European funding partner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No airlines have expressed an interest in operating from Manston yet, but Freudman said that\u00a0airlines like Jet2 and TUI prefer \u2018regional airports like this one\u2019. RSP hopes that a\u00a0consultation on proposed airspace will begin in March 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Isle
\nPhotograph: Shutterstock <\/p>\n

\u2018Manston represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver new runway capacity to support the UK air cargo market and to transform the economic landscape in East Kent,\u2019 RSP said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018RSP remains keen to get Manston open as soon as possible. However, we are realistic about the complexity of delivering a major infrastructure project. There are no shortcuts to reopening the airport, in a sustainable way, for the long term and delays can unfortunately become a part of the process of getting it right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All aboard: TfL is trialling a brand new bus stop design across London<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh no: London\u2019s busiest train station will have major closures for an entire month<\/a>.\u00a0
<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke \u2013 from news and reviews to events and trends. Just\u00a0<\/strong>follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stay in the loop: sign up for our\u00a0<\/strong>free Time Out London newsletter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in the day, Manston Airport\u00a0near Margate\u00a0used to fly Brits\u00a0to their holidays in Europe, with destinations including Italy,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,11648,393,4884,257,11649,83004,183,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-746564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-categories-travel","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-london","13":"tag-news-transport-travel","14":"tag-occasions-good-for-tourists","15":"tag-travel","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116024530968822636","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}