Liverpool Airport Parking

Liverpool John Lennon Airport History

Liverpool Airport is on of UKs oldest airports, the idea of the airport was thought of in 1928, with the first flight taking off in 1930.
The official opening of Liverpool airport came 3 years later on 1st July 1933 by the Right Hon. The Marquess of Londonderry, K.G. Secretary of State for Air

Liverpool Airport is 7 miles south east of Liverpool City and adjacent to the Mersey estuary.

Liverpool Airports location was thought of for three reasons,

1. Close to Liverpool City and surrounding areas.
2. Ideal geography of the site for Aircraft Movements
3. Perfect all year round weather conditions (Fog Free)

The first major construction of Liverpool Airport took place in the late 1930s, following substantial growth in passenger traffic through its airport terminals, particularly flights across the Irish sea.

Liverpool Airport played a major role in the World War and with military aircraft construction companies Rootes & Lockhead
(aircraft manufacture ) working from the same site. The runway was resurfaced from grass to a hard surface runway in order to cater for the larger and heavier military aircraft.

After the World War the local Authority did not regain control of Liverpool Airport from the Ministry of Aviation until 1961 following which time the decision was taken to construct the current longer runway on land adjacent to the original Airport, referred to as the Southern Airfield.

The new Liverpool Airports runway was opened in 1966 and enabled Liverpool to become a 24 hour airport - a situation which has continued to the present day. In the mid 1970s the airport transferred to Merseyside County Council from Liverpool Corporation and 10 years later to the five Merseyside councils following the abolition of Merseyside County Council.

Following the 1986 Airports Act, ownership of Liverpool Airport changed again in 1990 as Liverpool became the UK's first local authority owned Airport to move from public sector control to the private sector with British Aerospace acquiring a 76% majority shareholding.

In the mid 1990s £4 million was re invested in improving and expanding Liverpool Airports terminal, with new and larger landside plus airside passenger lounges, also Liverpool airport expanded the arrivals hall to keep up with the constant growth in airport passengers.

2001 Yoko Ono visited Liverpool airport to unveil the renaming and re-branding to her husbands name (John Lennon R.I.P.)
Liverpool John Lennon Airport, which coincided with the start of construction on a new looking airport. The airport became the first in the UK to be named after an individual. Yoko Ono returned to the Airport in March 2002 to jointly unveil a 7ft bronze statue of John Lennon by well known local sculptor Tom Murphy. The imposing statue is sited on the main passenger walkway overlooking the check-in hall and is clearly visible to all Liverpool Airport users.

The most significant event in recent years however was the further change in ownership of Liverpool Airport once again and today
Liverpool John Lennon Airport is a wholly owned subsidiary of Peel Holdings p.c.., the North West based property company. Peel acquired
a 76% majority shareholding in 1997 from British Aerospace with the remaining shares held by the five Merseyside Local Authorities. On 9 May 2001 Peel Airports Liverpool Limited acquired the remaining 24% shareholding.

The History of liverpool airport continues because since the Peel Group took control of Liverpool John Lennon Airport passenger numbers have increased by about 75%, with over 2.8 million passengers using Liverpool airport in 2002 and an estimated 3.2 million forecast in 2003.
Liverpool Airport is moving up in the league table of U.K. airports and is today one of the fastest growing in Europe.

The company Peel Holdings has already committed some £10 million to a range of infrastructure works at Liverpool Airport during their first four years of owning the airport and subsequently invested a further £42.5 million with European Objective One support, in a new terminal building, control tower and other ancillary projects, which were completed in Summer 2002.

2002, Liverpool Airport won the prestigious Fred Camenisch Award for its outstanding contribution towards tourism on Merseyside. The award was presented at the Mersey Tourism Awards in recognition of the role that Liverpool Airport has played in bringing a growing number of visitors, particularly from Europe to the region. The same year, Liverpool airport was presented with an award in recognition of its outstanding contribution to airport marketing at ‘Routes 2002', The World Route Development Forum in Athens.

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