Exeter Airport sold as part of £200m deal

The airport currently serves 27 destinations

Exeter Airport has been sold alongside two other English regional airports in a £200m deal.

Investment firm ICG confirmed it had agreed a deal with Rigby Group to purchase the Devon airport, along with airports in Bournemouth and Norwich.

ICG said the airport's passenger and cargo operations would be expanded and Steven Wiltshire, the airport's managing director, called the deal "great news for Exeter and great news for Devon".

Exeter Airport opened in 1937 and has flights to a number of UK and international destinations, including Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Lanzarote.

'Time for growth'

Mr Wiltshire said Exeter could handle up to 1.2m passengers annually, about 400,000 more than current levels, before requiring major infrastructure upgrades.

"Flights are pretty full, there's some capacity on the routes we're operating currently, but additional aircraft and new routes would help us reach that next level," Mr Wiltshire said.

The airport currently serves 27 destinations including recently launched daily flights to Amsterdam with KLM which began in March.

Addressing staffing concerns at the airport, which directly employs 230 people, he said: "We're not anticipating any change from the leadership team or on the ground at all, so it's business as usual as far as the staff and our customers are concerned."

The deal, set to close later this month, will see ICG support airport operator's Regional & City Airports (RCA) "expansion across its airport, cargo, and executive aviation operations", said ICG.

"Now is the right time for the next phase in RCA's growth," said Steve Rigby, co-CEO of Rigby Group.

Airlines which operate from Exeter Airport include Ryanair, KLM, Aer Lingus and TUI.

The site was used by fighter planes during World War Two, including the Polish Air Force's 307 Squadron in 1942.

The airport has grown in size, with a new arrivals building being opened by the Princess Royal in June 1999 before a £950,000 departure lounge opened four years later.

In January 2007, Devon County Council sold the airport to Regional and City Airports - a specialist airport investment and development group run by Balfour Beatty - in a deal worth £60m.

In June 2013, Balfour Beatty sold the airport to Rigby Group for an undisclosed sum.