Newquay Airport

Cornwall Airport Newquay

RAF St Mawgan
Summary
Airport typePublic / Military / Commercial spaceport
OwnerCornwall Council
OperatorCornwall Airport Ltd.
ServesNewquay and Cornwall
LocationMawgan in Pydar, Cornwall
Opened1962
Hub forEastern Airways
Elevation AMSL390 ft / 119 m
Coordinates50°26′27″N 004°59′43″W / 50.44083°N 4.99528°W / 50.44083; -4.99528
Websitecornwallairportnewquay.com
Map
EGHQ is located in Cornwall
EGHQ
EGHQ
Location in Cornwall
EGHQ is located in England
EGHQ
EGHQ
EGHQ (England)
EGHQ is located in the United Kingdom
EGHQ
EGHQ
EGHQ (the United Kingdom)
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
12/30 2,744 9,003 Grooved
Asphalt
Statistics (2023)
Passengers408,870
Passenger change 2022/23Increase67.1%
Aircraft Movements19,384
Movements change 2022/23Decrease21.3%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1]
Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority[2]

Cornwall Airport Newquay (IATA: NQY, ICAO: EGHQ) is the main commercial airport for Cornwall, England located at Mawgan in Pydar, 4 NM (7.4 km; 4.6 mi) northeast of the town of Newquay on Cornwall's north coast. Its runway was operated by RAF St Mawgan before 2008, and is now owned by Cornwall Council and operated by Cornwall Airport Ltd.

The airport handled 461,300 passengers in 2017, a 24.2% increase over the previous year.[2] Newquay has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. The Cornwall Air Ambulance is based at the airport. Since 2012, the airport has hosted the Aerohub enterprise zone. The 2,744 metre (9,003 ft) runway can take the largest and fastest of civil and military aircraft, having been built and maintained for decades as an RAF maritime operations base. The US Navy were present with the USN AWD storage facility and Joint Maritime Facility. With the end of the Cold War and changes in American political priorities, the Americans pulled out of all involvement with the base by the end of 2009. The last RAF flying squadron based at St Mawgan was 203(R) Squadron which moved out in 2008, while part of the site continues to be used by the RAF.[3]

The airport is also the location of Spaceport Cornwall. The facility has the capability to launch small space satellites into low Earth orbit using an air-launch-to-orbit type system.[4]

  1. ^ "Nats | Ais - Home". Nats-uk.ead-it.com. Retrieved 18 April 2015.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ a b "Annual airport data 2023: Tables 3, 9, 12 and 13.pdf". UK Civil Aviation Authority. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  3. ^ "RAF St Mawgan". Royal Air Force. Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  4. ^ "Spaceport Cornwall granted operating licence". BBC News Website. 16 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.