Lands End Airport runway to be strengthened

From the BBC 16 January 2013

The BBC article confirmed that plastic matting is to be installed over the grass surface of the Land's End runway to allow flights to resume between the Isles of Scilly.  The work would be carried out over the next few weeks.

The Steamship Company is reported as having stated that it was working with the Council of the Isles of Scilly on a longer term solution by securing the necessary money to pay for an upgrade to the runway.

For the full article click here.

Read on to learn more about ERDF funding for private companies and the origin of runway matting solutions. 

The IOS Council (see press release of 11 Jan - previous post)) and the Cornishman Newspaper between them have indicated that the Department of Transport is supporting development of plans for a permanent hard runway at Lands End Airport.

See Cornishman online item here. 

Comment.

ERDF

EU ERDF funding can be sought by private, (for profit), companies as well as the public sector for projects that benefit the region’s economy iaw 'Convergance' objectives.  Past projects are listed here.

Background to Runway Matting

Creating and strengthening runways on rough ground using portable matting has a long history and became a big business in World War II with the development of Marsdon Matting which was manufactured on a vast scale to support US forces in their Pacific campaign.  Since then new materials have been introduced to replace the original heavy perforated steel matting solution.  It is not known which product is being used at Lands End Airport but an example of a current product can be found here.