Carlisle Lake District Airport is on cloud nine after flying off with a major honour at the Airport Operators Association awards.

The Stobart Group-owned airport lifted the Best General Aviation Airport Award at the AOA Annual Conference Dinner, hosted at The County Hall in Westminster, London on Monday night.

The award recognises airports that can demonstrate passion and dedication to providing accessible general aviation.

Carlisle Lake District Airport said it had made a concerted effort to meet with and listen to the general aviation community while work continues at pace to develop the site in advance of commercial flights taking off in the Spring.

As a result of the conversations, the airport has reduced its fuel pricing, introduced out-of-hours flying and offered discounted landing fees for general aviation planes.

It has been a busy year for the airport, with the construction of a new terminal, the opening of a new runway after suffering two delays to the start of commercial flights.

Paul Martland, general manager of Carlisle Lake District Airport, said he was delighted with the award.

“The general aviation community is an essential part of this airport,” he said.

“We know there is more to do to improve this airport for general aviation flyers, but I am delighted with the progress we have made so far, and I’m extremely proud of our team’s hard work, which this award recognises.”

Kate Willard, head of corporate projects for Stobart Group, described the award as an “incredible achievement”, praising the work of Stobart Rail and Civils for making “brilliant progress in getting us up and running.”

“We look forward to the commencement of commercial services next Spring but will always remember the really key role that the general aviation community play in our day to day activities and the commitment we have to them,” she added.

Martin Robinson chief executive at AOPA said the award recognised the strategic important of the airport and the investment taking place.

“Carlisle has also shown its interested in attracting general aviation – we also know that times have been tough, so the award is well deserved,” he said.

“Always be general aviation friendly and you will attract business.”

Stobart Group remains tight-lipped over an official date for the start of commercial flights from the airport.

It has originally aimed for a June start, but was forced to push it back to September because of a shortage of air traffic controllers. However, the start was delayed again in September because of continued issues with training air traffic controllers and some snagging issues with the runway which left it short of meeting Civil Aviation Authority requirements.

Work undertaken at the site, which led to the closure of the airport’s two runways, left general aviation users grounded for a number of months and resulted in Border Air Training moving its operations elsewhere.