page_title: Cotswold Airport
section_title: Civilian use
hierarchical_section_title: Cotswold Airport / History / Civilian use
caption_attribution_description: English: Cotswold Airport, Gloucestershire, England (previously known as Kemble Airport) from a Robinson R44 helicopter. Taken at a speed of 80 mph, a height of 750 feet and looking east, during a pleasure flight at Battle of Britain Weekend 2009. On the far left is preserved Bristol Britannia XM496 (nearly among the trees). The other aircraft seen (including the yellow group in the distance) are for storage, scrapping or resale. The Battle of Britain Weekend is the obvious area of activity (cars, light aircraft, people, tents) with the cream hard-to-see control tower amongst it.
context_page_description: Cotswold Airport is a private general aviation airport, near the village of Kemble in Gloucestershire, England. Located 4.5 NM southwest of Cirencester, it was built as a Royal Air Force station and was known as RAF Kemble. The Red Arrows aerobatics team was based there until 1983, and it is used for the storage and recycling of retired airliners, as well as flying schools, clubs and industry.
  Cotswold Airport is located clear of controlled airspace, allowing free movement for training aircraft. It is also centrally positioned between Cheltenham and Gloucester and Swindon. The nearest railway station is at Kemble.
context_section_description: The MoD initially leased buildings on the former station before selling the site to Ronan Harvey, a local businessman, in March 2001.
  There was a threat of closure because of a mistake which the Cotswold District Council made relating to planning permission when it was sold by the MoD. However, this is no longer the case, and the planning status of the airfield has been changed to that of airport. In July 2007, the airfield was again threatened by the council after local residents filed noise-pollution complaints.
  In June 2008, the threat of closure eased after the Cotswold District Council allowed flying to continue, but in September 2008, North Wiltshire District Council sought to overturn this decision in the High Court as they said the original decision was flawed.
  In August 2009, the airport was awarded a CLEUD (Certificate of Lawful Use) as a commercial airport so the future is assured as an airport and development to that end can occur. Resource Group (Formerly Lufthansa Resource Technical Training) have relocated their EASA Part 147 Approved Basic Training facility to Cotswold Airport with a purpose-built facility opened in spring 2010. This has the effect of bringing numerous jobs to the local area as well as supporting local infrastructure, such as shops and hotels. There are around 50 engineering students stationed there year-round.
  The site was renamed Cotswold Airport in 2009, having previously operated as Kemble Airport or Kemble Airfield.
  The airport has a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P863), which allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Kemble Air Services Limited). The airfield has a tarmacadam runway which accommodates large aircraft such as the Boeing 747.
  Aston Down airfield lies 3 miles (4.8 km) to the northwest and has sometimes been mistaken for Cotswold Airport by visiting pilots. It formerly belonged to the RAF but is now used for gliding by the Cotswold Gliding Club.
caption: In 2009 Kemble Airport was renamed Cotswold Airport. This view looks east.
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