Open Skies Network and Cornwall Airport Newquay partner to Accelerate Advanced Aviation in the UK

Open Skies Net­work (OSN) and Corn­wall Air­port Newquay have today agreed a part­ner­ship that will strength­en Cornwall’s posi­tion as an emerg­ing glob­al cen­tre for advanced avi­a­tion.

As part of the agree­ment, OSN will gain access the airport’s new­ly-installed air traf­fic con­trol radar, expand­ing its flight capa­bil­i­ties in the region and poten­tial­ly sup­port­ing NHS med­ical drone deliv­er­ies between main­land Corn­wall and the Isles of Scil­ly.

Corn­wall Air­port Newquay will also become part of OSN’s net­work of New Avi­a­tion sites around the world, sup­port­ing the airport’s diver­si­fi­ca­tion beyond tra­di­tion­al, com­mer­cial-flight rev­enues and com­ple­ment­ing the work of Space­port Corn­wall.

Gareth What­more, CEO of Open Skies Net­work, said: “This new part­ner­ship with Corn­wall Newquay Air­port com­ple­ments our ongo­ing work with ASONE Park at St Mer­ryn Air­field, allow­ing us to sup­port air­craft that need longer run­ways while pro­vid­ing the close-prox­im­i­ty, dual-site capa­bil­i­ty required by cer­tain new avi­a­tion  ser­vice providers.

“Next gen­er­a­tion, sus­tain­able avi­a­tion — such as drones, autonomous and elec­tric air­craft — rep­re­sent an excit­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty to improve ser­vices and local con­nec­tiv­i­ty, as well as attract­ing valu­able inward invest­ment to the region. 

What­more added: “As with all inno­va­tions, there is a lot of work involved with devel­op­ing the net­works, capa­bil­i­ties and infra­struc­ture to sup­port those ser­vices. That is why this part­ner­ship with Corn­wall Air­port Newquay is so impor­tant — both strength­en­ing OSN’s region­al and inter­na­tion­al offer but also sup­port­ing deliv­ery of a wide range of advanced avi­a­tion projects in the local area, from R&D and demon­stra­tion activ­i­ties to deliv­ery of health­care, spe­cial­ist trans­port, and logis­tics ser­vices.”

Corn­wall Air­port Newquay is the inter­na­tion­al gate­way to the coun­ty, con­nect­ing the region to key des­ti­na­tions across the UK and Europe.

Through sev­en air­line part­ners, the air­port deliv­ers a notable mix of year-round and sea­son­al routes, includ­ing strate­gic links to hub air­ports in Lon­don, Man­ches­ter and Dublin, the lat­ter offer­ing seam­less con­nec­tiv­i­ty to the USA. This diver­si­ty of choice of air­lines, rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant asset for an air­port of its size.

With one of the UK’s longest run­ways (2,744m) and exten­sive facil­i­ties, the air­port sup­ports com­mer­cial flights, busi­ness and gen­er­al avi­a­tion, train­ing, mil­i­tary use, and vital life­line ser­vices includ­ing Corn­wall Air Ambu­lance Trust and HM Coast­guard.

Beyond avi­a­tion, the site is a plat­form for growth — offer­ing sig­nif­i­cant devel­op­ment land with­in the Aero­hub Busi­ness Park and oppor­tu­ni­ties across aero­space, tech­nol­o­gy, defence, and clean indus­tries. Corn­wall Air­port Newquay comes High­ly Com­mend­ed by Uni­ver­si­ty of Bath as Local Place­ment of the Year 2025​.

Home to Space­port Corn­wall, the UK’s first licensed space­port, Corn­wall Air­port Newquay is the nation’s only com­bined air and space port — posi­tion­ing Corn­wall at the fore­front of avi­a­tion and space inno­va­tion.

Nigel Scott, Com­mer­cial Direc­tor, Corn­wall Air­port Newquay, added: “Corn­wall Air­port Newquay sits at the heart of one of the UK’s most excit­ing, advanced avi­a­tion clus­ters.

“The part­ner­ship with Open Skies Net­work strength­ens that offer. It sup­ports our long-term strat­e­gy to diver­si­fy the airport’s rev­enues, brings new oper­a­tors and capa­bil­i­ty to Newquay, and helps move the prac­ti­cal deliv­ery of advanced avi­a­tion ser­vices — from health­care logis­tics through to sus­tain­able flight — a step clos­er for Corn­wall.”