Carlisle Airport is poised for take after it submitted plans to Carlisle City Council for a £25m redevelopment of the airfield. Bosses at the airport are confident that twice-daily flights to Stansted or Luton will be a reality within two years, with other destinations set to follow soon after.

The plans are for a new runway and a giant building - seven times the size of a large supermarket - to house a passenger terminal, air traffic control centre, hangars and warehousing. It would be built to the south of the existing runway and airport buildings, with access from the A689.

Facilities at the passenger terminal will include a café / bar, car-hire desk and shop. Other proposals include short and long-stay car parks and equipment to allow planes to land in bad weather.

Airport director Richard Gordon said: 'There is scope at Carlisle Airport and airlines recognise this. We have met two airlines and have a dialogue with another three. We should be looking at commercial passenger flights in 2009.' He added that the development to double the airport's workforce to 50, rising to 65 within five years.

Mr Gordon added: 'Our runway dates from 1941, is shot to hell and carries a weight restriction. If we rebuilt it we'd have to close the airport and that would affect the flying schools. So the plan is to have a new runway of roughly the same length, 1,830 metres, on a slightly different alignment.'

'The new runway will take 30-seat turbo-prop aircraft but not the Boeing 737s operated by Ryanair or easyJet. We don't want them anyway because there aren't people in the airport's catchment area to fill them.'

Direct flights to Heathrow and Gatwick have been ruled out because of the cost and scarcity of landing slots there. But Mr Gordon said flights to Paris or Amsterdam, which are hub airports with international connections, were a strong possibility. Dublin has also emerged from market research as a likely destination.

Under the plans, the airport will be renamed as Carlisle Lake District Airport in an attempt to cash in on tourism traffic. Airport owner, Andrew Tinkler, also wants to move his haulage firm Eddie Stobart and engineering company WA Developments to the site, with plans to develop an air freight terminal.

City council planning officers are now studying the airport plans, which include a detailed environmental impact assessment. Once they are satisfied everything is in order, the plans will be available at Carlisle Civic Centre for the general public to inspect

The scheme is being opposed by environmental groups concerned over increased carbon emissions. The planning application is likely to prove controversial, not least because the airport is within the buffer zone for Hadrian's Wall, a World Heritage Site.

Richard Dyer, aviation spokesperson for Friends of the Earth, questioned the demand for passenger flights over train journeys. He said: 'If you are flying into Stansted or Luton then you are talking about very similar journey times into the centre of London.'

'These short flights are immensely damaging in terms of climate change when compared to travelling by train.' He added there was also local opposition to the expansion plan on the grounds of increased noise pollution.