Located in the parish of Minster-in-Thanet and partly adjacent to the village of Manston in the Thanet district of Kent, England, 11 NM (20 km; 13 mi) north-east of Canterbury.

When operational, Manston was capable of handling some of the larger long-haul aircraft, but the runway was not long enough for the largest passenger or freight types at their maximum take-off weights.

[9] Since 9 July 2019, Manston has been owned by RiverOak Strategic Partners[10] and is the subject of a Development Consent Order[11] to be reopened as an airfreight hub.

At the outset of the First World War, the Isle of Thanet was equipped with a small and precarious landing strip for aircraft at St Mildred's Bay, Westgate-on-Sea, on top of the chalk cliffs, at the foot of which was a promenade which had been used for seaplane operations.

[citation needed] In the winter of 1915–1916, early aircraft began to use the open farmlands between Minster and Manston as a site for emergency landings.

Its location near the Kent coast gave Manston some advantages over other aerodromes, and regular additions in men and machinery were soon made, particularly from RAF Detling, in early days.

The Yugoslavian carrier Aviogenex operated regular charters to the then-popular beach resorts of the then Yugoslavia on behalf of the now defunct Yugotours.

Kent International Airport was initially a 38-acre (150,000 m2) civilian area within the former RAF Manston that included the existing terminal building and an apron where passengers embarked and freighters were loaded.

[citation needed] A 1993 report by the Department of Trade and Industry examined runway capacity in south east England and found Manston unsuitable for development as a major airport because of its proximity to a town.

After the RAF left, local Labour MP Stephen Ladyman opposed the decision to sell the base to property developer Wiggins Group plc.

The RAF faced a compensation claim of £50–100 million if it then closed the base and terminated its earlier agreement with Kent International Airport.

The MoD sold the site at the end of March 1999 for £4.75m to the Wiggins Group, which inherited the legal agreement obliging the RAF to continue maintenance of the airfield.

The sale of Manston to Infratil, a company based in Wellington, New Zealand and owner of Glasgow Prestwick Airport, was completed on 26 August 2005.

From July 2013, British Airways has operated test flights and crew training for the Airbus A380 from Manston,[21] which was followed by a similar exercise for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

[22] On 15 October 2013, Infratil announced it would sell the airport to a company wholly owned by Ann Gloag, co-founder of Stagecoach Group.

To prevent lorries from parking on the motorway during busy periods, freight traffic bound for the Port of Dover might be diverted to the airfield and held until it can be directed to the ferry services.

[29] On 26 October 2016, local newspaper the Thanet Extra reported that the owners of the site had received payments totalling £3.539 million from the Department for Transport to keep Manston Airport on standby as a lorry park for Operation Stack.

In December 2020, the airport runway was used as a lorry park when the French border was closed to traffic from the UK due to a new strain of coronavirus being found there.

RSP, a London-based company incorporated in 2016 specifically to reopen the Kent airport, told the BBC it planned "short-haul and cargo flights" at the site.

In 2014, an American private equity group, RiverOak Investments, put forward a proposal to acquire the site and reopen it as an airport, with an initial emphasis on cargo and the recycling of aircraft.

[41] In December 2015, it was announced that RiverOak would undertake a Development Consent Order (DCO) process to acquire permission from central government to reopen the airport.

[43] In June 2016, the site owner submitted a planning application to Thanet District Council, seeking permission for 2,500 homes, commercial sectors and public parkland, under the name Stone Hill Park.

[45] In August 2016, Thanet Council commissioned AviaSolutions, an aviation consulting firm, to conduct a study into the feasibility of the site reopening as an airport.

In November 2016, it was made public that Edi Truell, a leading city financier and previously the pensions and investments adviser to the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson,[52] was keen to acquire Manston and return it to an operational airport.

[56] In February 2017, RiverOak Strategic Partners spent its first day on site after gaining access to Manston Airport to carry out work as part of their development consent order (DCO).

[59] In June and July 2017, almost 2,000 people attend statutory consultation meetings for RiverOak Strategic Partners' (RSP's) proposals for Manston Airport.

[60] A further round of statutory consultation events is held in January and February 2018[61] The Development Consent Order examination stage closed on 9 July 2019 and permission was given for the sale to go ahead.

[citation needed] The Development Consent Order was granted by the Transport Secretary in July 2020 but quashed by the High Court in February 2021 due to insufficient explanation of reasons to go against a 2019 examining authority report.

[63] In May 2024 a Judicial Review to challenge the reopening and redevelopment of Manston airport was rejected by the Court of Appeal in London which means that the DCO remains valid.

[73] Manston's flight path passed over the town of Ramsgate, a seaside resort of some 40,000 residents, situated about 1 km (0.62 mi) from the eastern end of the runway.