Coventry Airport set to close in 2026 for gigafactory development

Coventry Airport is set to close on 11 June 2026 for the development of a multimillion-pound advanced manufacturing site.

This would be a joint venture between Coventry City Council and Coventry Airport, with the West Midlands Combined Authority giving the project a £23 million funding boost.

Louise Bennett, the former chief executive of Coventry and Warwickshire’s chamber of commerce, claimed back in 2022 that the planned battery gigafactory, which will be the largest in Europe, will boost the local economy, bring direct manufacturing back to Coventry, and create 6,000 direct jobs.

Although planning permission for the gigafactory was received in 2022, plans for it have just started to go ahead now due to difficulties finding an investor.

The airport itself has a rich history, with the site originally having opened in 1936 before serving as an RAF airfield during the Second World War. Over the decades, it has hosted freight, small aircraft, and occasionally commercial flights.

The glory days of the airport have long since faded. Now, it is just used for business and freight flights, with the final passenger flight taking off in 2008

The airport is perhaps best remembered for welcoming Pope John Paul II in May 1982, when he arrived at Coventry Airport by helicopter and was greeted by 300,000 people.

The glory days of the airport have long since faded. Now, it is just used for business and freight flights, with the final passenger flight taking off in 2008.

The company that owns the airport, Regional & City Airports Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of The Rigby Group, recorded a loss of £662,000 after tax for the year ending in March.

Councillor Jim O’Boyle, leading the charge to develop the new gigafactory, reflected that there was a huge space at the airport that was just not being properly utilised, and that the gigafactory would allow for the space to benefit the wider area.

It is hoped that the gigafactory will bring jobs to the community and boost the local economy in a way that the airport was failing to do.