Executives at the community-owned Machrihanish Airbase in Campbeltown, Scotland, are confident they'll beat the other four shortlisted candidates to become the UK’s first spaceport in 2018.

The airbase, which has a history of involvement with space flight, is the only bidder which has exceeded the UK government’s minimum runway length of 3,000m, as well as being more than 1,000 acres in size and removed from densely populated areas.

Machrihanish was previously an emergency landing site for the Space Shuttle in Europe and it's rumoured the site has been used in the past for testing top secret aircraft.

Chair of the Machrihanish Airbase Community Company, Tom Millar, emphasised that the area has tourism attributes to entertain space tourists, with luxury hotels, world class golf courses, sandy beaches and distilleries nearby.

“A spaceport would provide a significant jobs boost and would revitalise local businesses,” says Millar. “It would also help drive tourism from all over the world, which would be a real boom for the whole of the UK.”

The other shortlisted sites are Glasgow Prestwick and Stornaway also in Scotland, Newquay in Cornwall and Llanbedr in Wales.

Space tourists are expected to pay around US$313,000 (£200,000, E281,000) for a trip to see the stars and sites globally are beginning to bid for spaceport status. The sites are expected to be catalysts for leisure development.

Another step forward for space tourism plans

Scotland dominates list of potential sites for UK spaceport