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Blackpool International Airport (EGNH), on the Fylde coast of Lancashire, is a historic aerodrome dating back to 1909 that today serves executive, helicopter and general aviation traffic rather than scheduled airline services. Its long main runway and full ILS make it a useful and interesting VFR or IFR destination for simulator pilots exploring the North West coast.
Blackpool International Airport, known by the ICAO code EGNH, lies on the Fylde coast of Lancashire, just outside the Borough of Blackpool in the Borough of Fylde. Once known as Squires Gate Airport, it has a long and varied aviation history stretching back to 1909, and today operates as a base for executive aviation, helicopter operators and flying training rather than scheduled passenger services. For the simulator pilot it offers an interesting mix of a substantial hard runway with ILS approach, a shorter crosswind strip, and a strong sense of aviation heritage along England's northwest coast.
The airport sits on the Fylde coast of Lancashire, just outside the Borough of Blackpool, in an area close to the Irish Sea coastline near St Annes-on-the-Sea. It is served by Squires Gate railway station nearby, giving a useful ground reference for the airfield's position relative to the town of Blackpool to the north.
Blackpool has two physical runways. The main runway, 10/28, is 6106 feet long, has a hard surface, is lit, and offers an ILS approach on runway 28. The secondary runway, 13/31, is 2794 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit, providing a crosswind option for lighter traffic.
Blackpool provides an air traffic control service, with Approach available on 119.95 MHz, an ATIS broadcast on 121.75 MHz, and Tower on 118.4 MHz. The main runway, 28, is equipped with an ILS approach, allowing instrument arrivals to be flown into the airport.
The site's aviation story began in October 1909, when Squires Gate hosted the United Kingdom's first official public Flying Meeting, drawing some 200,000 spectators and seeing Frenchman Henri Farman set the first official British flight distance record of 47 miles. Between 1911 and 1915 the site briefly became Blackpool Racecourse, hosting the £1,000 Coronation Gold Cup, before being used as a military convalescent home and hospital during the First World War, a role it retained until 1924. Flying resumed at Squires Gate in the early 1930s, with the A.V. Roe Company offering pleasure flights from South Shore for five shillings as early as 1919, and a further Air Pageant staged in 1928 with 73 RAF aircraft. In 1931 Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald opened a new aerodrome at Stanley Park at a cost of £39,000, and operators such as the British Amphibious Air Company ran services to the Isle of Man; by 1933 rival operators including Imperial Airways were again flying from Squires Gate. Railway Air Services began scheduled flights from Blackpool on 15 April 1935, linking the airport with the Isle of Man, Manchester and Liverpool, with onward connections to London and beyond, and in June 1937 airline operations transferred to Stanley Park Aerodrome. The sister of aviation pioneer Amy Johnson lived in Stanley Park, and Johnson herself often visited; her last complete flight was a ferry flight for the Air Transport Auxiliary from Squires Gate to Oxford. War work began in 1938 when the Air Ministry requisitioned the aerodrome, and three bituminous runways were laid to support wartime operations at RAF Squires Gate, which hosted squadrons including No. 63, No. 75, No. 215, No. 96, No. 256 and the No. 308 Polish Fighter Squadron, alongside a Coastal Command base and an RAF training wing that saw 769,673 recruits pass through basic training in Blackpool. Between 1941 and 1945 the Vickers Company built 3,842 Wellington bombers at Squires Gate. After the war, Stanley Park airfield closed and development focused on Squires Gate, which was redesigned in 1949; by 1950 some 25,000 passengers were passing through, with airlines such as Silver City Airways, Pegasus Airways and Jersey Airlines operating types including Rapides, Austers, Dakotas, Herons and Bristol Freighters. During the Korean War in the 1950s the airport's factory produced Hawker Hunters. Blackpool Corporation took control of the airport from the Government on 1 April 1962, and traffic continued to grow through the 1980s, with Cosmos Holidays running package tours to the Mediterranean. The airport was recognised as a private limited company in 1987, wholly owned by Blackpool Borough Council, and by the 2000s served over 20 European destinations. Ownership changed hands several times in the 2000s: MAR Properties Ltd purchased the airport in 2004 and invested 2 million pounds in refurbishing the terminal, officially reopened by former England rugby captain Bill Beaumont OBE, before Regional and City Airports Ltd, the aviation arm of Balfour Beatty, acquired a 95 percent stake in May 2008 and rebranded it Blackpool International for Lancashire and The Lake District. The airport closed to commercial traffic in October 2014, reopening in December 2014 as a CAT 2 airfield for non-commercial operations, with Citywing commencing daily flights to the Isle of Man in April 2015.
Blackpool Airport now functions primarily as a base for executive and private aviation, helicopter operations and flying training rather than scheduled airline services. Executive flights are operated by Hangar 3 Blackpool Ltd, which provides a private hangar, aircraft management, and flight briefing and lounge facilities. NHV Helicopters operate services to offshore oil and gas facilities in the Irish Sea using AgustaWestland helicopters from a purpose-built helicopter terminal, and the airport is also home to one of three Eurocopter EC135 helicopters used by the North West Air Ambulance service. UK Aviation Services specialises in the maintenance and repair of corporate and commercially owned helicopters, holding EASA Part 145 approvals for a range of types. Several other companies based on the airfield offer flying lessons, training, private aircraft hire and maintenance. The airport holds a Civil Aviation Authority Public Use Aerodrome Licence permitting flights for public transport of passengers and for flying instruction, and in 2021 it recorded just under 40,000 aircraft movements, making it the thirteenth busiest airport in the UK by that measure. The airport remained open through the Covid-19 pandemic, supporting offshore rig operations and the North West Air Ambulance, and from 2022 the Blackpool Airshow returned after a pandemic-related hiatus.
