It is now costing Cornish taxpayers almost £10 million a year to run Newquay airport.
The eye-watering amount was revealed yesterday (Wednesday, August 19) at an extraordinary Cornwall Council meeting to discuss how the loss-making airport can be operated more efficiently.
"We can be under no illusion that council taxpayers cannot be expected to find anything like £9-£10 million a year because most of them don't use the airport," the council's cabinet member for economic regeneration told the meeting.
Councillors discussed the commercialisation and development of Cornwall Newquay Airport following an independent efficiency review to "strengthen governance, improve commercial performance, increase operational flexibility and enhance financial discipline" at the airport, which is likely to never run in profit.
The Steer report, commissioned by the council – which owns the airport, managed by subsidiary company Cornwall Airport Ltd (CAL) – includes 71 recommendations for change, based on four "core pillars" (listed at the end of this story).
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A number of councillors said during the sustainable growth scrutiny committee that the way the airport and its estate is run should be made simpler as it has led to "confusion".
Currently, Cornwall Council, Cornwall Airport Ltd, Corserv – the council's company which oversees CAL, and Treveth, another council-owned company which oversees the development of the estate's land – are all involved in its governance, operations and future plans.
Corserv / CAL will present a transformation plan to the council for consideration in December.
Paul Cooper, Corserv's director of resources, told the meeting that £3.6 million of efficiencies and "productivity gains" have already been planned, some of which are included in the Steer report recommendations. "The next iteration in December is to grow that £3.6m to a bigger number."
Independent councillor Andrew Mitchell, who has long questioned the amount of public money spent on keeping the airport going, said: "Looking at the report in the whole, I think it sounds a lot like business as usual. Where is the reorganisation structure that should come from a review like this?
"We've had two years where month upon month passenger figures have declined. We have overnight, it appears to me, required to jump from a £5 million a year subsidy to £10 million a year.
"It appears to me that we have no credit control at Newquay airport. To allow Eastern Airways to go bankrupt owing us £1.6 million beggars belief. It was three times what they owed Heathrow and here we are, a small regional airport."
He added: "I really do have concerns. There are 71 recommendations but to be perfectly honest they just tinker with the edges. Things aren't going well at Newquay airport – a £10 million a year subsidy does not show efficient running."
The committee chairman, Cllr Connor Donnithorne, said concerns around the reasons for the "significant increase" to a £10 million public subsidy had been an "emerging trend" among councillors who had been briefed before the meeting.
Mr Cooper explained why the public subsidy paid by taxpayers had grown over time.
Between 2020 and 2023, it sat between £3 million and £4 million and started to increase slightly between 2023 and 2025 to between £4 million and £5 million. Factors for that included significant Foundation Living Wage increases for over 50 per cent of airport staff, the need to increase the number of air traffic control staff and a pay issue for firefighters based at the airport.
He said the big increase was in the last couple of years due to the employers' National Insurance uplift, which caused a £3.5 million "hit" to Corserv as a whole, including the airport. Issues with the airport estate and the problems involving Eastern Airways going bust also added to the increase in taxpayer subsidy.
The current year will see a £9.7 million deficit, which has been exacerbated by the council's decision to stop the subsidised Public Service Obligation (PSO) route from the airport to London Gatwick earlier this year. Mr Cooper said the independent report did not highlight any areas where the airport was spending more money than it should.
He stressed that, like all regional airports, Newquay had to find alternative commercial revenue streams to help with the cost of running the airport. "We are not making best value of the architecture and infrastructure around the airport," added Mr Cooper.
Cornish Taxpayers Now Fund Newquay Airport at Nearly £10m a Year