Barrow/Walney Island Airfield

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Barrow/Walney Island Airfield
IATA: BWF - ICAO: EGNL
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		BAe Systems Marine Ltd - Submarines
Serves		Barrow-in-Furness
Elevation AMSL		173 ft (53 m)
Coordinates		54°07′44″N, 003°16′03″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
17/35	3,327	1,014	Asphalt
12/30 Unlicensed	3,953	1,205	Asphalt
06/24 Unlicensed	3,438	1,048	Asphalt

Barrow/Walney Island Airfield (IATA: BWF, ICAO: EGNL) is located on Walney Island, 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) northwest of the centre of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England.

It is owned by BAE Systems, who operate private flights to various airfields across the United Kingdom. The Lakes Gliding Club also operates out of the airfield in favourable conditions [1].

Barrow/Walney airfield was opened during World War II, though the site had been used as an airship station since the First World War. It was left disused after WWII, and was sold on in 1959 to Vickers, the company that owned Barrow shipyard at the time.

1 Past
2 Future
3 Aircraft
4 References
5 External link

[edit] Past

Commercial flights used the airport during the 1980s and 1990s. Air Ecosse flew to Edinburgh, Carlisle and Liverpool from 1982 to 1983, before Air Furness took over in 1984, flying predominantly to Manchester. Operations ceased in 1988; despite a final attempt to run services from the airport in 1991-1992 by Telair, the airport is again currently used only for private flights.

[edit] Future

In 2004 a study into the airfield revealed that a £1 million upgrade would attract thousands of business passengers a year flying to London and Europe. The study found that the business demand from South Cumbria would be equal to 4,500 journeys in a year, reaching 7,900 by 2020. These are still only plans to convert Barrow/ Walney airfield into an International Airport, but already numbers of aircraft using the airfield has increased with the completion of a recent upgrade program. This work includes Instrument Landing System (ILS) installation for runway 35, Resurfacing of runway 17/35, Re-Lighting of runway 17/35, Security Fencing around the entire airfield and various other general improvements (new signage etc).

In 2005, an airshow was held at the site. Following its success, a second has been planned for 2007.

[edit] Aircraft

BAE operates flights to various UK destinations during the week, using two Beechcraft King Air B200 aircraft. The Lakes Gliding Club operate at weekends when the weather conditions are favourable and various based light aircraft often fly throughout the week.