‘This hangar is essential for the airport’

Thursday 16th December 2010, 2:29PM GMT.

Barry Pitfield, of Fletcher Aviation, and Jenny Meeks with the plans for the hangar which they say is vital for a significant part of the island’s economy. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 1065362)

GUERNSEY’S airport needs the hangar that has sparked controversy in the Forest, says the firm behind the plan.

Barry Pitfield, of Fletcher Aviation, said it was keen to find a solution that worked for everyone. And although proposals were first made in 1999, that had not been by this group.

With airport space already limited and looking set to reduce further after possible refurbishment work, room, he said, was running out.

‘We have eight aircraft. Five are in a hangar, two on the grass and one in the UK,’ he said. With the airport refurbishment that we are assuming is going ahead, more than half of the grass area at the west where the local aircraft parking is will, we understand, be used as an overflow for commercial aircraft.’