Transport links to liverpool airport are improving - but one change is missing

PROPOSALS FOR RAIL SERVICES TO THE AIRPORT HAVE BEEN FLOATED NUMEROUS TIMES OVER THE YEARS 12:34, 01 Jun 2025Updated 12:42, 01 Jun 2025 Regular visitors to Liverpool John Lennon Airport may

remember proposals to extend the city's rail services to serve travellers. From light rail services to the ill-fated "Merseytrams", the idea of improved public transport to

the airport has remained strong in the minds of planners for more than 20 years. In May 2020, John Irving, chief executive of Liverpool John Lennon Airport, said improved links with the city

were a "top priority", and proposals for a rail service were "on hold rather than cancelled" due to Covid-19. Now five years on, members of the Liverpool City Region

Combined Authority have agreed to roll out plans for an express bus route that connects with the airport. A spokesperson for the Combined Authority said: "Mayor Rotheram announced last

year that the Combined Authority would be looking at how best to introduce new rapid transport links between key locations in the city region not currently served by the rail network,

including Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Work is ongoing to fully develop these plans.” Plans were announced to assess transport links between Liverpool city centre and the airport in

December 2019, with the possibility of a light rail service being introduced. The concept bore striking similarities to the long-extinct Merseytram scheme. Proposed for the first time in

2001, the project won government backing in 2002 but was scrapped for good nine years later after suffering a number of delays and funding issues. If fully realised, the project would have

have consisted of three lines, and would have connected Liverpool city centre with Knowsley and Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Article continues below Speaking at a special Captain’s Table

event hosted by Marketing Liverpool in 2019, JLA chief Mr Irving said: "We have a phenomenal station three miles up the road out of the city - Liverpool South Parkway - but it’s a

little bit too disconnected to the airport for being a full airport parkway station. “I hope and think that now we are starting to move towards us getting something down and exploring the

options for whether it's light rail, heavy rail, better bus connectivity, or even better ways of getting taxis in and out of South Parkway to the airport." The following year, as

Britain went into lockdown, he told the Liverpool BID Company’s visitor economy panel that better connectivity remained "a top priority". He said: “We remain an ambitious airport

and because we are part of an ambitious city region, these plans are definitely on hold rather than cancelled. “I think we all have to look at what impact [Covid-19] has had on the business

and financial structures around us and the region, but we remain completely ambitious, and in my world, I look at that being a pause rather than a 'we need to reassess what that looks

like'." However, there has been no mention of a rail service or light rail to the airport since that time. In August 2024, Liverpool was visited by a rapid transit

"Glider" - described as a trackless tram - to test how it could work across hotspots throughout the city region. In March this year, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

gave the green light to a near-£120m capital budget to enable investment in new buses, depots, and infrastructure upgrades. This included a new express bus route to the airport. The first

phase of the project is expected begin in St Helens in 2026, followed by Wirral, before rolling out across six boroughs by the end of 2027. Passengers in St Helens will be able to access a

new express service to Liverpool Airport, route extensions to increase access to rail and hospital and the reinstatement of some weekend frequency. On the Wirral, low frequency services will

be increased to a minimum of hourly, some route revisions will also be made to improve access to health facilities and interchanges, as well as improved evening/Sunday services. Metro Mayor

Steve Rotheram said at the time: “The investment we’re committing to will secure our plans and prioritise passengers over profit. "It’s no good if we’ve just got buses and we paint

them, that’s not what this is about. It has to feel different as a network, we have to connect people better than we are currently doing.” Article continues below A Liverpool John Lennon

Airport spokesman said they "remained keen to see improved public transport access for the airport" with the rapid bus route between the airport and the city centre. They added:

"There is now also talk of a possible link to the potential new rail station in the south Liverpool/Halton area announced the other week as part of the plans for a new Liverpool to

Manchester rail line, but this would appear to be longer term."