Exeter International Airport

Exeter International Airport
IATA: EXT – ICAO: EGTE
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Exeter and Devon Airport Limited
Serves		Exeter Devon
Location		East Devon
Hub for		Flybe Thomson Airways
Elevation AMSL		102 ft / 31 m
Coordinates		50°44′04″N 003°24′50″W
Website		www.exeter-airport.co.uk
Map
EGTE Location in Devon
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
08/26	2,083	6,833	Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Passengers			744,957
Passenger change 09-10			6.4%
Aircraft Movements			33,740
Movements change 09-10			10.2%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority

Jack Walker House, Flybe head office

Exeter International Airport (IATA: EXT, ICAO: EGTE) is an airport located at Clyst Honiton in the District of East Devon close to the city of Exeter and within the county of Devon, South West England.

The airport handled over 1 million passengers in 2007, the first time over 1 million passengers had used the airport in a single year, however passenger throughput declined to 744,957 in 2010. The airport offers both scheduled and holiday charter flights within the United Kingdom and Europe.

On 5 January 2007 a majority share of the airport was sold by Devon County Council to Regional and City Airports Ltd; a consortium comprising construction firm Balfour Beatty.

Exeter has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P759) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.

Location

Exeter International Airport is located 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the city of Exeter and is approximately 170 miles (270 km) south west of London. To the south, it is connected by the A30 dual carriageway which can be accessed from the east and the M5 in the west, just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away. The M5 enables good links with Bristol and the Midlands.

There is no railway station at the airport, and the closest station is Pinhoe railway station. Exeter St Davids railway station has a bus link and is therefore easier for passengers using the airport.

History

The airfield had originated as a grass field for club flying before being constructed in 1937 and formally opened on 30 July 1938 as Exeter Airport at a cost of about £20,000.

Wartime use

• Media related to RAF Exeter at Wikimedia Commons

With the start of World War II in 1939 the landing area was increased to around 3,000 ft (914 m) north to south and 4,500 feet (1,400 m) east to west in the early months of the war. An asphalt perimeter track and several hardstands for aircraft parking followed and in 1941 hard-surfaced runways were put down. These were 4,350 ft (1,326 m) aligned 13/31, 4,070 ft (1,241 m) aligned 08/26 and 2,700 ft (823 m) at 02/20.

In 1942, the 08/26 runway was extended in length to 6,000 ft (1,829 m) in a general upgrading. In the early years, the airfield had gained 19 small, fighter-type pan hardstandings and 14 double pens. Nine concrete loops were added on the northern side of the air-field early in 1944. Hangars, gathered over the years, were one Hinaida, six Over Blisters and four Extra Over Blisters.

During World War II RAF Exeter was important RAF Fighter Command airfield during the Battle of Britain, with some two dozen different RAF fighter squadrons being stationed there for varying periods through 1944, and just about all the operational fighter types of those years had been present.

RAF Exeter was also used by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Ninth Air Force as a D-Day troop transport base with Douglas C-47 Skytrain transports dropping paratroops near Carentan to land on the Normandy Beachhead. It was also known as USAAF Station AAF-463.

Battle of Britain

RAF Exeter was home to the following Squadrons of No 10 Group during the Battle of Britain:

• No 213 Squadron from 18 June 1940
• No 87 Squadron from 5 July 1940
• No 601 Squadron from 7 September 1940

Despite extensive efforts at camouflage, including painting the runways, Exeter attracted the Luftwaffe on a number of occasions during the early years of the conflict and a few of the administrative and technical buildings were destroyed.

USAAF use

Exeter met the requirement of basing USAAF troop carrier groups close to where units of the 101st Airborne Division were located and within reasonable range of the expected area of operations.

440th troop carrier group

5 June 1944 photograph of C-47s of the 95th and 98th Troop Carrier Squadrons at RAF Exeter with freshly applied black/white invasion stripes to aid in aircraft identification from the ground. There was insufficient space to park all the aircraft on the concrete, so many were parked on grass turf.

The 440th Troop Carrier Group arrived on 15 April 1944 with over 70 C-47/C-53 Skytrain aircraft. There was insufficient hardstandings to accommodate all the aircraft so many had to be parked on the turf, some areas being supported by tarmac.

The 440th was a group of Ninth Air Force's 50th Troop Carrier Wing, IX Troop Carrier Command.

The group dropped paratroops near Carentan in the early hours of 6 June and the following day delivered parapacks containing fuel and ammunition to the same area. Accurate flak accounted for three C-47s on D-Day and a further three were lost on the resupply mission, one of the latter in a freak accident when struck by bombs accidentally released from a P-47 Thunderbolt.

As soon as satisfactory landing grounds were available in the Normandy beachhead, the 440th shuttled C-47s to and from France, often evacuating wounded.

As with the other groups of the 50th Troop Carrier Wing, the 440th sent three squadrons, the 95th, 96th, and 97th TCSs. to Italy on 17/18 July, where they operated from Ombronc airfield hauling supplies to Rome before taking part in the airborne invasion of southern France, Operation "Dragoon", on 18 August. The 98th TCS returned to Exeter on 23 August 1944 and the following day the other squadrons returned from the Mediterranean.

The 98th TCS remained at Exeter until 7 August when it began operating from RAF Ramsbury. Three days later it dropped parapacks to a US infantry battalion that had become encircled at Marlain when the German Army attempted to launch a counter-offensive.

On 11 September the headquarters of the 440th TCG was established at the group's new base al Reims, France (ALG A-62D), and the last of the air echelon left Exeter two days later. Nevertheless. the airfield was still used by the USAAF Ninth Air Force for the air evacuation of wounded and a station complement squadron remained until November.

Postwar use

The New Walker Hangar, a Flybe hangar in the airport

Walruses of an RAF air-sea rescue flight were the next tenants and these were joined by a glider training unit early in 1945.

Post-war, Exeter was reclaimed by Fighter Command and a French Supermarine Spitfire squadron, No. 329, which came and stayed until November 1945. Meteors and Mosquitos made a brief appearance the following spring.

No. 691 Squadron's target-towing Vultee A-31 Vengeances, which had been present for more than a year, proved to be the last RAF flying unit of the Second World War period based at Exeter.

When No. 691 Squadron departed in the summer of 1946, the station was made available for civil use, being officially transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation on 1 January 1947 although there was still some reserve RAF activity until the 1950s.

Scheduled services to the Channel Islands began in 1952 and charter flights to various locations followed. A new terminal building was opened in the early 1980s and various other improvements, including a runway extension, were carried out over following years to establish Exeter as an important airport in the West Country.

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled services

Airlines	Destinations
Air Malta	Seasonal: Malta
BH Air	Seasonal: Bourgas
Flybe	Aberdeen, Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast-City, Bergerac, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow-International, Guernsey, Jersey, Leeds/Bradford, Málaga, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Seasonal: Avignon, Chambéry, Dubrovnik, Düsseldorf, Faro, Geneva, Palma de Mallorca, Rennes, Salzburg
Flybe operated by Loganair	Norwich [begins 25 March]
Isles of Scilly Skybus	Seasonal: Isles of Scilly
Thomas Cook Airlines	Seasonal: Dalaman, Palma de Mallorca
Thomson Airways	Lanzarote, Paphos, Tenerife-South Seasonal: Bodrum, Corfu, Dalaman, Enontekio, Faro, Ibiza, Larnaca, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Malta, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Sharm El-Sheikh
Canadian Affair	Seasonal: Toronto

Busiest routes to and from Exeter Airport (2009)

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	% Change 2008 / 09	Airlines
1	Edinburgh	61,095	10	Flybe
2	Manchester	48,526	7	Flybe
3	Paris Charles de Gaulle	48,353	24	Flybe
4	Newcastle	39,029	19	Flybe
5	Palma de Mallorca	37,802	10	Flybe, Thomas Cook, Thomson
6	Malaga	35,209	37	Flybe
7	Amsterdam	34,066	15	Flybe
8	Glasgow International	33,359	15	Flybe
9	Jersey	33,193	3	Flybe
10	Alicante	33,180	25	Flybe
11	Aberdeen	28,127	59	Flybe
12	Faro	28,094	30	Flybe, Thomson
13	Tenerife South	27,065	7	Thomson
14	Dublin	26,225	7	Flybe
15	Guernsey	24,479	8	Flybe
16	Belfast City	22,606	25	Flybe
17	Lanzarote	18,471	2	Thomson
18	Funchal	15,995	2	Thomson
19	Paphos	15,684	2	Thomson
20	Leeds Bradford	15,357	32	Flybe

Cargo services

Airlines	Destinations
Royal Mail operated by Jet2.com	East Midlands
Royal Mail operated by Titan Airways	London-Stansted

Capital Aviation

Capital Aviation is based at Exeter and offers a number of commercial services. The company have a fleet of turboprop aircraft, including the Beech 200 Super King Air which offers fast and comfortable transport for up to nine passengers. These aircraft are mainly used on a private hire/charter basis. Capital also provides emergency medical transport and cargo/mail services.

General aviation

The former Swiss Air Force Hawker Hunter F.58A J-4104, now “Miss Demeanour”, moved to Exeter airport in 2004

There are a large number of privately based aircraft that operate out of the airport. The Hunter Flying Club are based on the Northern side of the airport, they work to restore and fly a number of Hawker Hunter aircraft.

Flight training

There are two flight training organisations based at the airport:

• Aviation South West
• Airways Flight Training

These two FTO offer a range of training from the Privates Pilot Licence to the Commercial Pilots Licence and Instrument Rating.

See also

• List of RAF stations
• South West Aviation
• Exeter International Airport Fire and Rescue Service

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• Freeman, Roger A. (1978) Airfields of the Eighth: Then and Now. After the Battle ISBN 0-900913-09-6
• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.

External links

Media related to Exeter International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Exeter International Airport – Official website
• Airfield remains on worldwar2airfields.net