page_title: Plymouth City Airport
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Plymouth City Airport / History / Origins
caption_attribution_description: Brymon Airways De Havilland Canada DHC-7-110 Dash 7 G-BRYA at Plymouth Airport
context_page_description: Plymouth City Airport is a 'mothballed' airport located within the City of Plymouth 3.5 NM north northeast of the city centre in Devon, England at Derriford. The airport opened on this site in 1925 and was officially opened by the future Edward VIII, as Prince of Wales, in 1931.
  The airport is owned by Plymouth City Council and leased to Plymouth-based company Sutton Harbour Holdings.
  In 2009, 157,933 passengers passed through the airport, a sharp increase of 34.0% on the 2008 total of 117,823 making Plymouth one of the few UK airports experiencing significant growth during the period. However, following the withdrawal of London flights in early 2011, the airport's owners said passenger totals had fallen to fewer than 100 a day. The London Stock Exchange was notified on 28 April 2011 that the airport would close by the end of the year.
  Plymouth City Airport had a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence that allowed flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction, and was part of the Strasser Scheme.
  The airport closed and ceased all operations on 23 December 2011.
context_section_description: In 1923, a mail flight, flown by Alan Cobham, to Croydon carried passengers from a grass strip at Chelson Meadow, Plymouth. Following the flight, Plymouth City Council looked for a permanent site for an airport. In 1925, the airport was moved to Roborough in north Plymouth. The Prince of Wales later Edward VIII officially opened the airport in July 1931.
  As well as transporting mail and passengers, the airport was used as a bad weather training base for the Royal Air Force as RAF Roborough as well as other services of the armed forces.
  Throughout the majority of the Second World War the airport was known as RAF Roborough and was the primary protection over the city of Plymouth, with RAF Harrowbeer as its back-up.
caption: Brymon Airways de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 in 1983
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