After easily finding a space at the half-empty car park and being guided through the eerily quiet terminal building, it seemed odd that so much fuss has been made about Lydd airport.

This year the Court of Appeal finally drew a line under the last legal challenges to its plans to build a 294m runway extension and new terminal building.

Work is due to begin before the end of the year but sceptics and environmental campaigners still question the business case for the £25m redevelopment, which will make the site capable of handling Boeing 737s and Airbus 320s, popular with tourist airlines.

One man convinced of the numbers, who has been at the airport through all the lobbying and public inquiries, is Captain Jonathan Gordon.

He emerges from his office for our interview prepared to talk about an entirely separate business which he has run since 1988. His company Atlantic Bridge Aviation, or ABA, has big expansion plans of its own at the Romney Marsh airfield.

Its airline LyddAir is set to expand its chartered flight operations, World Executive Airways, after its catchment area dramatically grew following the demise of Manston airport. The company will expand another of its ventures selling shares in aircraft, Air Share.

It also runs flights from the Isle of Man – where it plans to set up a permanent base soon – and is close to signing a deal for Lydd to host flights by air ambulance and organ transplant services.

However, as Jonathan talks, the conversation keeps leading back to the running of Lydd airport. Twice an owner of the site and still a shareholder today, the pilot and businessman has been pushing its expansion agenda, on and off, since he was first approached about buying it in 1986.

“If this had been run properly there would not be any of this stuff in the press about whether it’s two runways at Heathrow or one at Gatwick,” said Jonathan. “This would be it. It has got everything going for it.

"Had I been able to run the airport myself from when I bought it [for the second time] in 1996, it would be at the forefront of the argument for airport development.”

The reason Jonathan does not own Lydd anymore is one fraught with politics, misguided good intentions and a bit of bad luck.

His first ownership from 1987 to 1988 saw him gain permission to build a new runway without a planning inquiry, only for his financial backers in the city to scale back their investment following the stock market crash on Black Wednesday.

It was at this point Jonathan began his aviation consultancy business ABA, which would lead him to launch airlines in India, Japan, the Philippines and Burundi. His most recent project saw him set up an airline in the Caribbean last year.

However, after becoming very rich and successful, Lydd came back into his life when Rothschild approached him in 1996 to say the airport was up for sale again, having lost £1.5m a year since he left.

He was to suffer more bad luck when a fire broke out at the site shortly after he put down a £50,000 deposit on the purchase. His wife told him it was a sign he should not get involved again but he pressed ahead. In June that year he became the new owner of a burned out, wrecked Lydd airport.

He decided the best way to make it profitable was to operate an airline from the site, so he launched Sky-Trek Airlines in 1997 to attract revenue. It ran scheduled flights to Le Touquet in France, which still run today under the name LyddAir. The concept worked delivering two years of bottom-line profits in 1999 and 2000.

It convinced him to go into the market to find investors to help the airport expand, which led to him to Sheikh Fahad Al-Athel, the site’s present owner.

“Perhaps I made a mistake when I got that investment in,” he said. “What I had not estimated was the fact I wouldn’t be able to control the investment. Had the Sheikh just left me in charge in 2001 when he put the money in, this place would be so different now.”

From then, Jonathan’s role at the airport was reduced and he struggled with the Arab businessman’s choice of leadership at Lydd. As plans to expand the airport stalled, he was briefly drafted back in as managing director in 2009 to get the project back on track – and delivered.

“When I was reappointed it was 99% sure this airport would not get permission to extend the runway or build a new terminal,” he said.

“So I got in amongst Shepway council and shook up the consultants and lawyers we were paying a fortune to. In March 2010, I got a 27-12 positive vote from the council.”

His tenure was short lived, as the Sheikh became frustrated with prospect of facing a public inquiry.

“He thought we would be able to bring the bulldozers in straight away,” said Jonathan. “I do have regrets. I would love to finish what I started but the chances are starting to go.”

With that, he showed me to the runway to see ABA’s fleet of three planes – a piston, turbo-prop and jet – which are now the focus of his business mind.

And business is certainly booming. The day before the interview he had flown a return chartered flight to Dublin, then headed on to Manchester.

He flew back to Lydd that morning for the interview and then flew off to Bavaria, where he would then travel on to the Isle of Man and Cambridge before returning.

“Where we are making our money is in airshare, aircraft management and ad hoc charter flights,” said Jonathan.

“With the piston, turbo prop and jet aircraft we have got flexibility unmatchable for our size. It suits your pocket or suits your mission.

“We are also going to launch corporate hospitality packages to Le Touquet, which we are really expecting to take off.”

One burning question remains. Does he ever want to run Lydd airport again?

“I probably do,” he said. “I would say in many respects I still am Mr Lydd – I’ve still got the underpants – and I’m still associated with it through my shareholding.

“Unfortunately the powers that be have said I can’t manage it.”

Lydd airport facts

Lydd airport celebrated its 60th anniversary in July this year.

It is owned by Saudi businessman Sheikh Fahad Al-Athel.

It is hoped the 294m runway extension will help it increase potential passenger numbers form 200,000 to 500,000 a year, although at present it carries a fraction of that.

Former Manston airport chief executive Charles Buchanan was appointed to the same role at Lydd in September saying: “I relish the opportunity of growing Lydd’s role and importance in the local economy as it develops into a first-class modern regional airport.”

LyddAir operates weekly scheduled flights to Le Touquet in France.

Information at www.lyddair.com, www.worldexecutiveairways.com and www.aba.aero.