The Welsh coast may not be the first place that comes to mind when you think of aviation hubs, but it is home to one airport – and that airport oversees lots of innovation in the world of flying. Now, thanks to ‘high demand for its services’, West Wales Airport (WWA) in Blaenannerch, Ceredigion is hoping to give its facilities an upgrade.
The airport is mostly used for military testing, so you probably won’t be touching down on an easyJet flight any time soon. But according to the planning application the airport is ‘well recognised for its unique capabilities’ in the drone (aka Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems) sector and is pretty in-demand.
There are apparently five unnamed aerospace companies that have expressed a wish to operate either permanently or long-term from the airport from April 2024. Right now though, there’s not enough space for them. WWA is hoping to replace its control tower and buildings with brand-new ones and to extend its taxiway.
The planning application stated: ‘Currently, all the available ground-based accommodation that can access airside is now fully and permanently utilised. There is not even any storage capacity for the airport's own fire service and airfield maintenance equipment.’
‘To accommodate the imminent further growth in the customer base, there is an urgent need to construct additional ground-based facilities in the form of an additional hangar and a separate control tower.’
The new additions are expected to bring a ‘significant employment boost’ to the area.
All airports great and small
At Time Out, we want to give you all the updates on all of the UK’s major flight hubs as well as some of the smaller, lesser known ones. While Bristol Airport is getting its own makeover and Leeds is ditching the 100-millilitre rule, Newcastle was named the best small airport in the whole world and Ryanair will soon start offering flights from this little-known English airport.
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