London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Powys: Spoof £25,000 airport sign makes a welcome return

Powys: Spoof £25,000 airport sign makes a welcome return

It is the mid Wales landmark that started out as a joke and lasted for 20 years.

Now, it is making a comeback.

Up until last November, there was a billboard for Llandegley International on the A44 in Powys between Rhayader and Kington.

But drivers who followed the directions to Terminal 1 or 3 ended up not at an airport, not even an airfield, but just a field on the outskirts of the village.

The sign was taken down last year when the man who spent £25,000 keeping it in place decided he would try to make it an official landmark.

Nicholas Whitehead launched a crowdfunding campaign with the slogan "give us a sign".

Six months later, a brand-new one has appeared.

The airport's "founder" said he was delighted.

"When the sign came down we gained thousands of followers on Facebook. There was so much support for getting another, I felt sure the crowd-funder would work," he said.

Nicholas Whitehead launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund a new sign


"In a time of austerity, no local authority would want to pay for this, so we tried to raise all the money ourselves. We only needed £1,300 and we raised £2,000."

The extra money will be donated to the Wales Air Ambulance, which Mr Whitehead said he was happy to support given the aviation connection.

Mr Whitehead was a journalist and editor for the Brecon and Radnor express, a writer on Radio 4's comedy sketch show Week Ending and once worked with Monty Python's Terry Jones.

With a strong sense of the absurd, he created the fictional airport in 2002.

"It started off as a wild conversation with friends one evening. We thought of renting a sign for something that wasn't really there, possibly a project that didn't exist, and we settled on the airport."

He soon realised the plan was possible.

"I approached Wrexham Signs, who own the billboard, and expected them to say, 'you can't do that'. But apparently, you can," he said.

"As a journalist, you find that whatever you do, someone, somewhere, is going to get upset about it. But Llandegley International is the exception. People love it."

In the sign's original location near Crossgates, it cost about £1,500 per year to maintain. But thanks to the crowd-funding, a new one has been installed to the east of the village.

The Richards family offered to put the sign outside their farm near Llandegley, where it can stay permanently.

Holly Richards says the sign has become a "talking point" once more


Holly Richards jumped at the chance to help out: "We were sad to see it go, so at the first chance of having it back we were happy to put it on our land.

"Since the sign has come back the social media response has been great. It's become a real talking point once more."

Fencing contractor Fred Morris put up the new sign and described it as a bit of a folly: "When you tell people where you come from, they ask 'have you seen the sign for the airport?' People play along with the joke."

The sign has become a popular spot for photos and selfies, though people are warned to be careful


Mark Lythgoe co-owns a nearby roadside snack van and said it had been great for business.

"We've had a lot of people asking where the airport is," Mr Lythgoe said. "We're thinking of renaming the van the international departure lounge. It's all a bit of fun."

The airport has taken off on Facebook. Thousands of followers enjoy updates about Llandegley's impressive environmental credentials, and engage in flights of fancy about the "top secret" Terminal 2.

Mr Whitehead now keeps the old sign in his garden in Wembury, Devon.

He said the airport had helped him to see a more positive side to social media.

"There's been an outpouring of love. People have said the Llandegley International Facebook page is one of the best things on the internet, because there's no unpleasantness," he said.

When asked if he thought the airport was real, he said: "It exists in the same way songs exist. If you set fire to the scrap of paper on which Paul McCartney wrote Yesterday, that wouldn't destroy the song.

"The song exists as a shared experience; it's indestructible. It's the same with the airport."

The sign was altered in 2019 in memory of long-time fan of the airport, Jill Dibling


With a permanent sign in place and a big online fanbase, Mr Whitehead said he hoped to gain official recognition for the quirky institution he founded.

"It's not exactly a national monument - but it is a national treasure. It has become an item of Welsh heritage."

For now, he is happy Llandegley International is on the road again.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
×