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Cornwall Airport Newquay, ICAO EGHQ, lies on the north Cornish coast near St Mawgan and is the county's main commercial airfield, built around the former RAF St Mawgan runway. For a simulator pilot it offers a long, ILS-equipped runway on a dramatic stretch of coastline, together with a full radar and tower service more usually associated with a busier regional airport.
Cornwall Airport Newquay (EGHQ) serves Newquay and the wider county of Cornwall, operating from the site of the former RAF St Mawgan. It is owned by Cornwall Council and operated by Cornwall Airport Limited, handling scheduled airline services alongside general aviation and flying training under a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence. Its combination of a very long runway, full instrument approach and coastal setting makes it a distinctive destination for a VFR or IFR flight in the simulator.
The aerodrome sits at 50.4408N, 4.9953W at an elevation of 344 feet, on the north Cornwall coast at St Mawgan, a short distance from Newquay itself. The field's origins as a military station are reflected in its keyword association with St Mawgan and the callsign EGDG used during its RAF days.
EGHQ has a single physical runway, 12/30, surfaced and lit, measuring 8964 feet in the 12 direction and 8010 feet in the 30 direction. Both directions are served by ILS, giving the field an unusually long, well-equipped runway for a regional Cornish airfield.
The airfield provides a full range of air traffic services. Published frequencies are Approach on 133.4 MHz, ATIS on 127.4 MHz, Director on 125.55 MHz, Ground on 121.95 MHz, Operations on 131.8 MHz, Radar on 127.925 MHz and Tower on 134.375 MHz. The presence of Approach, Director, Ground, Radar and Tower frequencies reflects the aerodrome's history as a military airfield with a full radar service, and both runway directions are supported by ILS for instrument approaches.
The runway at what is now Cornwall Airport Newquay was operated by RAF St Mawgan until 2008, after which ownership passed to Cornwall Council with Cornwall Airport Limited taking over operation of the civil airport. The field holds a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence permitting flights for the public transport of passengers and for flying instruction. Commercial services at the airport have fluctuated over the years, with Ryanair withdrawing in 2006 and returning in 2016, and Flybe operating routes until it ceased trading in March 2020. In September 2013 the National Aeronautical Centre at Aberporth Airport in West Wales announced it would use Newquay as its second airport for testing unmanned aerial vehicles, reflecting the field's long runway and its links to the wider aerospace and defence testing community in Cornwall.
Cornwall Airport Newquay operates today as the principal commercial airport for Cornwall, with scheduled routes to a range of UK and European destinations. It continues to support general aviation and flying training activity alongside its airline operations, and the long ILS-equipped runway that once served RAF St Mawgan remains in daily use.
